


Operation Tartarus

by Inebriatednovelist



Category: RWBY
Genre: Extended Cannon, Extended Universe, F/M, Forbidden Love, Gen, M/M, Mutual Pining, star crossed lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-04 10:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17302676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inebriatednovelist/pseuds/Inebriatednovelist
Summary: A smuggler turned soldier, Bronze Vulfke is a captain in The First Hunter's Legion. A prestigious and elite group of Hunters and Huntresses across all kingdoms that have come together to take on the jobs too big or too dangerous for other Hunters to even attempt. When the the Mistral city of Orcestral is sieged by a sever lack of Grimm and an anti Faunus terrorist group in its place, Bronze finds himself embroiled in what might be a larger conspiracy while also trying to ensure his family living in the city made it out safe.





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Bronze Vulfke sat with his back straight and pressed into the chair he sat in. The harness seatbelt crossed over his chest to keep him secure but did little in the way of keeping him from thrashing around by the constant turbulence of their shuttle. It also did little in the way of calming his nerves though it only showed in the way he bobbed his leg to a steady and unheard beat. At his current rank, the Captain didn’t have the luxury of showing nerve or fear in the face of danger or before an operation. He didn’t have the luxury that some of the other recruits had, but at the same time, he also had the benefit of knowing just what might be in store for them as well.

Looking around the cabin of the shuttle, Bronze saw some of the newer recruits in his unit with a nervous look on their face. Some of them had beads of sweat on their brow, others clutched items of faith and whispered prayers while some still held onto mementos of family waiting for them to come home. At the same time, recruits of the very same year sat in their chairs with their heads lolling back, mouths hanging agape and a soft snore uttered from their throats. Some slept soundly while others entertained themselves through idol chat and games, they came up with to pass the time.

This was a direct juxtaposition to Bronze’s fellow officers who just kept quiet through the whole ride. They never attempted to make conversation with anyone else. They never looked to entertain that thought either by the way they kept their eyes down and on their respective weapons. They checked their weapons once, then twice then a third and fourth time to ensure everything was in working order. It was a good routine to have because all it took was one failed mechanism to throw a wrench into a hunter’s or huntress’s battle. One misstep is all it would take as well.

Bronze didn’t take the time to do the same however, his own weapon, name Hair of the Dog, was rudimentary but elegant in that right. Hair of the Dog was little more than two lengths of chain wrapped around his wrists and forearms. The only real special attribute being that he could cause the chain links to snap together to create a baton or other basic shapes. He did this by channeling his aura through the metal. All it took was one spark of energy and he suddenly had a new weapon.

“Nervous Captain?” A recruit asked, this sudden interruption causing Bronze to snap out of his own thoughts and into the preset, his leg sitting still now. The patch on the recruit’s chest read Zure.

“More like anxious,” Bronze said. “We’ve been stuck in here for a good few hours; I’m ready to stretch my legs.”

“I can get behind that, can’t wait to tear into some Grimm with these things, they’re fresh from the forge just for this.” Zure said and drew his weapons from his sides, deploying the blades of his duel tonfa. Each one held a sword blade protruding from back while the front held a pistol. The blades folded up neatly inside the guns and thus made it easier to carry around.

“C’mon Zure, at least buy Sarge dinner before you whip those out!” Another recruit said and elbowed Zure in the ribs.

Zure just laughed and nodded his head, twirling his weapons to sheath the blades before holstering the pistols behind his back. He leaned forward onto his knees, and nodded to the length of chain covering Bronze’s wrist.

“What about you, what’s the deal with the chains?” Zure asked.

“Hair of the Dog,” Bronze began and held up his wrist to show his weapon of choice. “I’m not an academy hunter so I never got the chance to forge my own weapon. I just took a liking to chains cause… well let’s say their familiar to me.”

“You mind if I ask you one more question Sir?” Zure asked and leaned back in his chair and saw Bronze nod to allow him permission to continue. The casual nature was something he didn’t mind having with his fellow soldiers and subordinates. “Is it…” Zure asked and coughed out a nervous laugh, clearly ashamed to even ask his question. “Help me settle a bet,” Zure started again. “Is it true that you’re a faunus?”

The length of the cabin went silent one moment while others turned to look at Zure like he just grew a second head. People whispered around them and tried to scold Zure as quietly as possible. Bronze’s fellow officers looked to him as if to ask if they could step in. Bronze shook his head and reached a hand up to palm through his black hair and a pair of pointed wolf ears popped up atop his head. At this, the cabin looked in awe. Some smiled, others scowled while some still traded money with one another at bets both won and lost.

“That’s not going to be a problem is it Private Zure?” Colonel Saffron Hymn said, her voice cutting through the chatter around her. “Because last I checked, your race doesn’t have any bearing on your ability to kill Grimm unless you feel otherwise?”

“Uhhh, no ma’am, I mean yes ma’am I mean I uhhh…” Colonel Hymn swept away Zure’s prior casual nature away in an instant and with it all the color in his face. “It was just a rumor I wanted to set straight ma’am!”

“Really? Because from the look of all that money in your lap, you looked to have won a few bets too.” Hymn said and leaned forward in her chair as far as the harness would allow her. “Are you a betting man Ashton?” Hymn asked, using Zure’s first name to punctuate her question with weight. “Because I’m willing to bet that Captain Vulfke here is twice the soldier you are, couple his skill with his natural night vision and heightened hearing and I’d say that he’s four times the soldier you are and to top it all of he out ranks you so why don’t we round that up to another six times the soldier you’ll ever be. You step out of line again with a question like that and I will see to it personally that this is the last mission you take as a member of the First Hunter’s Legion. Do I make myself clear Private?”

“Ma’am yes ma’am!” Zure croaked out and nodded his head. At a time like this, a grilling from one’s superior officer would have instigated a few of the men to give the victim a hard time, but all other soldiers in Hymn’s battalion went quiet.

“Was that really necessary?” Bronze asked Hymn.

“These soldiers are fresh recruits from various hunter academies and beyond, they need to learn discipline and where they stand in this battalion, that especially goes for you Captain.” Hymn said and turned to Bronze with a cocked brow. “I don’t care that you’re my second in command or that you were one of the first members of The First Hunter’s Legion or what your standing is with General Hades, but you’re a Captain and that means I out rank you so you’ll follow my orders just the same as any of these men, understood?”

“Yes ma’am…” Bronze said and nodded his head, trying to keep the scowl off his face and hoping Colonel Hymn wouldn’t notice. With her eyes constantly burning into him however, Bronze could already feel the lecture.

Before Hymn managed a single word, she was cut off by the sound of a chiming ring from the overhead announcement system in their ship.

“Attention passengers this is your general speaking.” Hades said, his deep booming voice demanding everyone’s attention. “We will be dropping into the city soon enough and I’d advise my own subordinates to go over the mission parameters one last time before we drop. Let’s save some lives people.” With that, Hades cut out and left Hymn to unbuckle herself from her seat and start over towards the rear of the ship.

Hymn held her hands behind her back and stood with her feet shoulder length apart, her eyes locked onto a point in space.

“Listen up everyone!” Hymn’s voice bellowed through the cabin. “General Hades, Colonel Macaria, Colonel Greus, and myself will be leading four teams into the Mistral city of Orcestral. We will be dropping from the ship and will land inside the city which is currently infested with Grimm, with that said after landing you must keep your eyes and ears open to avoid ambush. Once everyone has confirmed to have touched down we will proceed unto phase one proper of the operation where the four active teams will begin their roles within the city. General Hades and his battalion will land in the center of the city and from there they will establish a base camp that will later become the primary checkpoint for the refugees. Colonel Macaria will support Hades in locking down the area while myself and Colonel Greus will begin carving a path north and south respectively to establish a means of extraction.

“We have approximately two hundred and fifty hunters and huntresses at our disposal per team for this operation, due to the mass in numbers we will be setting up checkpoints along the norther and southern civilian extraction routs. After we’ve managed to extract everyone from the city we will begin phase two of the operation the general has come to call Operation Open Season. For those of you who do not share his sense of humor we will use our remaining numbers to eradicate any and all of the Grimm within the area. Any questions?”

Bronze raised his hand and held it in the air, waiting to be called on by the Colonel while Hymn looked to anyone else for any questions. After a moment, she nodded to Bronze and rolled her eyes.

“Yes?” Hymn snapped.

“I’d like to say a few words if you don’t mind Colonel…” Bronze asked and watched as Hymn rolled her eyes and took a seat, gesturing Bronze to proceed. Bronze stood and regarded his men one by one. “Some of you might be scared, some of you might be a little nervous or maybe just excited. What you should be feeling right now however… is pride. The First Hunter’s Legion is a multi-kingdom endeavor designed for catastrophic events like this. So now it’s our time to shine, it’s our time to be the heroes and it’s our time to come in, save the day. So let’s teach the Grimm the meaning of fear and lets show the people of Orcestral what hope really looks like!” Bronze bellowed and held his fist in the air and heard the cheers of his men around him as they all mimicked the gesture. Bronze even managed to catch Hymn nodding her head and perhaps even the ghost of a smile perking up across her face.

“We are over the drop site now, last stop ladies and gentlemen!” The pilot said over the overhead speaker of the ship.

The rear of the shuttle whirred to life as the door opened to the vast horizon stretching out bellow everyone. Without even a single moment to think, Hymn’s battalion threw themselves from the back of the ship and let themselves fall into the expanse. It was with this new vantage point that everyone could see the city they’d be calling home for the next month of this operation. Pillars of black smoke rose up around the area from various burned out and demolished buildings while messages in white paint sat on rooftops. Many of them illegible at the height everyone was dropping at, but some were clearly labeled S.O.S.

While the men funneled out the back of the ship, Bronze and Saffron shuffled forward. Just before Bronze was able to jump, Saffron caught him by the shoulder and yanked him back.

“I know you have family here, but the larger operation comes first, I need your word that you will follow orders even if it means you might have to leave your family behind.” Hymn asked and locked eyes with Bronze. The two stood in silence for a moment while a look of consideration played on Bronze’s face and Hymn furrowed her brows in anger at this.

“You have my word on my rank that I will put the mission first.” Bronze said and felt Hymn shove him from the back of the plane. His body braced for a hard thud of the floor, but when it hadn’t come, he felt an eerie feeling of disappointment at the freefall just before turning himself around to see the city bellow him.

Out along the horizon, another three ships deployed their own units, each one making their way down to the city and cushioning their landing via their own creative means. The aura of every hunter in the legion was strong enough to withstand the impact at terminal velocity, but slowing down one’s decent allowed them to use up less of their aura on impact.

Bronze wrapped his chains around his fingers to create a sort of glove and reached out his hand once he rushed by a nearby sky scraper. He dug his hand into the side of the wall and felt the stone rip away under his hand as his decent slowed to a stop once he hit one of the lower balconies of the building. From where he stood, he saw some of his own team make their stylish landings.

One of the soldiers holding a spear dug his weapon into the head of a flying Grimm and road it down to the streets bellow. Once the two impacted, the body of the Grimm vanished in a plume of smoke and dust while the hunter shouldered their weapon.

This sparked a contest of style within the ranks as each hunter tried to out do the other in terms of landings. Some flipped and twirled before sticking the landing while others hadn’t had as much skill or luck and only managed a face plant. The winner of such a contest went to Colonel Hymn however.

Being the last one to drop from the ship, she had the most air time and at a first glance she looked unarmed. This, however, was not the case. Around her right and left wrist hung a pair of bracelets, each one inlayed with pure Dust with a metal band to hold it together.

Hymn concentrated her aura into the bands around her wrist and watched as the Dust reacted to the new source of energy. Hymn closed her fist, reared back her hand and threw a punch forward causing a blast of air and energy to slam down into ground before her hard enough to create a shallow crater. A plume of wind flew upwards from the blow and slowed Hymn to a gentle landing.

Bronze hopped from his balcony and landed not far from her before sidling up beside the Colonel.

“Everyone’s transponder’s working?” Colonel Hymn asked as she checked her scroll to see a series of signatures pop up around the area.

“Looks like it, where do we go from here Ma’am?” Bronze asked while his ears twitched and circled around his head, his senses picking up on every little noise around him. An old habit he couldn’t break nor one he had any interest in breaking. His mind was always on the battlefield and thus he was constantly on alert.

“We will make our way to the center of town for debriefing from the general and proceed with our mission from there.” Hymn said and slipped a small headset over one ear and tuned it to the frequency of her team to give them the same orders along with an order to keep chatter over the coms to a minimum. “Let’s head out captain.”

“Yes ma’am!” Bronze said and followed along with her.

Along their trek through the city, a few minor Grimm tried to attack them if only because Bronze and Hymn managed to catch them out in the open. Beyond that however, their calm demeanor kept many of the Grimm uninterested while Hymn’s prior display of force called their attention elsewhere. As they walked along, they picked up a few odd stragglers from various teams as well as their own. Among the group was Ashton Zure, the private Bronze sat across from in the shuttle that flew them here.

“Captain Vulfke, Colonel Hymn!” Zure shouted and waved his hand over to them before rushing over to meet them.

“Keep it down private, this walk has been easy enough, we don’t need to make it harder by bringing Grimm down on us.” Bronze said.

“Right sorry about that…” Zure said and fell in line with the rest of the team. Not two steps were taken before Zure piped up again however and walked up beside Bronze with a question on his face.

“What do you want to know this time kid?” Bronze droned, his ears laying back on his head while he kept his eyes forward.

“Nothing about your sir, not this time anyway, I was wondering if you saw the Colonel’s landing, do you know what that was cause she doesn’t look like she has a weapon on her…” Zure asked and nodded to Hymn who just kept her eyes forward.

“You have access to the personnel files just like everyone else does Zure, did you take any time to read through it?” Bronze asked and watched him shake his head, childlike curiosity in his eyes. In response, Bronze nodded forward and pointed to the wrist bands on Hymn’s arms. “Right there, those two bracelets are her weapons, they contain kinetic Dust that lets her create blast waves with her aura.”

“Wait, so that wasn’t her semblance?” Zure asked. “Holy shit do you know what kind of Aura output someone has to have in order to do something like that?”

In favor of a response, Bronze cocked his brow towards Zure with a knowing look on his face. As a Captain, he was more than familiar with Hymn’s abilities and knew full well that her Aura output exceeded that of a normal hunter or huntress by at least four times. Zure understood this once give a moment of consideration and nodded his head.

“Damn glad she’s on our side…” Zure said.

“If you got energy to talk about me then you got energy to run, double time lets go!” Hymn snapped and started off towards the city center at a run, Zure and Bronze falling in behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

_Years Earlier_

“What’s the job?” Bronze asked and regarded the man approaching his table.

The man furrowed his brow in a mocking gesture of faux offense. He remained standing despite a second chair sitting open on the other side of Bronze’s table.

“That’s a little presumptuous…” The man said. He was human, clean cut and had a perpetual smile on his face that might hold some charm to it had Bronze not grown up somewhere where a smile on someone’s face always meant they were lying.

Bronze scowled and scanned his eyes across the bar. It was a local Faunus dive bar, some place his kind could come to get a drink without someone trying to harass them. The bouncer, a jaguar Faunus, was a sleek man. His skin pulled taut across his muscular form while a spotted cat tail swung from side to side as he leaned up against the threshold of the doorway to the bar. Bronze didn’t catch the bouncer’s name, never had the reason to, but he knew two things about him.

One: he could cross the length of the bar in the blink of an eye and in another, he’d throw out any troublemakers before they could make any trouble.

Two: he didn’t allow humans past the doorway.

“As far as I can tell, you’re a human and you’re inside of a Faunus bar, inside of a dive bar at that and you’re way over dressed.” Bronze said and eyed the man from head to toe. He wore a long sleeve Changsha that hung to about his waist with a pair of dark pants with matching slippers. His wardrobe choices a stark juxtaposition to what Bronze wore, that being what amounted to a sack with three holes cut into it and a pair of baggy pants with a sash tied around the waist to keep them from falling. “On top of that, the bouncer never lets humans in here so that means you’re powerful enough that no one tells you no and since you’re here I’m assuming you have an underhanded job you want some underhanded people to take care of.”

The man in the Changsha laughed and nodded his head at Bronze’s appraisal of him before pointing to the chair opposite of Bronze, cocking his brow. Bronze kicked the chair out for him and sat up in his own seat. The man in the Changsha took the seat and pulled himself up to the table.

“You can call me Bai, Mr. Vulfke. Am I pronouncing that correctly?”

Bronze’s ears perked at this new information and nodded his head to the man. His reputation preceded him.

“You say it like you’d say wolf with a V instead of a W, but yeah. You know me?” Bronze said.

“I know of you, yes. You’re a street-smart kind of guy who knows how to stay out of sight when he needs to. Down here in the slu-” Bai caught himself. “Down here in your neighborhood people have a modest respect for you while those above started to think you’re just a scary story to tell children.”

“I’m not here to have my ego stroked, get to the point.” Bronze demanded.

“I need an escort.” Bai said.

“You’re not my type, there is a bordello about three blocks south of here that can take care of you.” Bronze said and stood from his table. He’d only managed to get two steps before Bai caught his wrist.

“You’re a funny man Mr. Vulfke, but that’s not the kind of escort I need. Rather I need you to delivery someone safely to a client of mine.” Bai said and let go of Bronze’s wrist before nodding his head to Bronze’s chair. “Please, at least let me make the offer.”

Bronze turned to face Bai and crossed his arms over his chest, nodding for Bai to continue.

“I have a client with very discerning tastes and there is a certain someone down in the lower levels that caught his eye while he was here some time ago.” Bai said and continued. “For my client, who will remain anonymous, he worked out a deal with the madam of a bordello for one of her girls and I’m sure you know where you come into all of this.”

“You want me to make sure your client gets her delivered safely and discreetly.” Bronze said and scoffed. “You came to the right guy but people aren’t cargo, no deal.”

“It’s not what you think Mr. Vulfke, the woman you’d be escorting is fully consenting to this transaction and I think you will as well once you know what my client is willing to pay for her.” Bai said and stood, circling around Bronze to prevent him from walking any further away from him. “Two million Lien, that’s how much my client is paying for this girl and he’s offering you one percent of that for her safe arrival. This woman will live in the lap of luxury in a lavished harem. Perhaps not an ideal life, but one far better than some place right here. I’d say that’s a pretty good offer and one many would be hard pressed to say no to.”

Twenty thousand Lien for an escort job was more than he’d made in some of his most dangerous work before. On top of that, if he budgeted himself right, he could live off that for a little over a year. Maybe if he was feeling ambitious, he could finally get out of Orcestral, leave this place behind and make people think he really was just a myth. Bronze scoffed at the thought, a smile on his face despite himself.

“I can see I’ve piqued your interest Mr. Vulfke.” Bai said and took a step away from Bronze and reached into his sleeve to produce a business card.

Bronze reached for the card, paused for a moment and snatched Bai by the wrist and squeezed. His hands were strong and course, the very rare days of honest labor saw to that while other nights fighting for a place to sleep helped even more. Bai’s face contorted into a wince while he stifled back a groan of pain, his eyes searching the bar to either find help or size up the potential of a larger threat.

“A job like this is way easier to handle with some local muscle and probably a lot cheaper than two million Lien so what’s the catch?” Bronze asked.

“No catch, no catch!” Bai croaked and grit his teeth.

“Then why the hell are you coming down here looking for someone to make a silent drop off?” Bronze demanded and loosened his grip enough to allow Bai to relax.

“You have to understand we are in a post revolution era Mr. Vulfke, your kind fought and won their rights to live along humans in the cities but discrimination is still very prevalent within the upper levels of Orcestral.” Bai said and yanked his arm away the moment he had the chance.

“Oh, I see how it is…” Bronze said and nodded his head. “Your client likes Faunus but he doesn’t want anyone to know so you hire someone from the slums to do the delivery so if they try to blackmail them, they don’t have the leverage to back it up. They can just vanish and no one would bat an eye, am I right?”

“You are correct Mr. Vulfke, it’s a precaution, a failsafe. You know how deals like these go, money is the only thing you can trust and only after its yours.” Bai said and rubbed his wrist before pulling back the sleeve to see a red mark across the skin.

“I’ll take the job,” Bronze said, picking up the business card from the floor after Bai dropped it. “But if someone comes after me after I get this job done, I don’t care who sent them, I’m coming after you, do we have an understanding Mr…?”

“Se, though you can continue to call me Bai if it is all the same to you Mr. Vulfke.” Bai said. “For several reasons the physical information will need kept out of this transaction so whenever you feel like getting paid just head to that bordello you recommended to me and ask to “watch the sunset.” After that you need only deliver our friend to the address provided on the card.”

Bronze read the address stamped into the black card, the lettering inlaid with a gold foil. The address wasn’t something he recognized which meant it was well beyond the slums and because of that he began to plan out his moves in advance. He couldn’t just walk right into the upper districts without causing any issue. It wasn’t as if he could just as for directions either or claim he was here to make a drop off. Both of those options were apt to cause a few issues for the client and himself. When Bronze looked up, Bai was gone with no real trace of him around.

Pocketing the card, Bronze started into the alleyway outside the bar and looked up to see a narrow beam of light shining between the cracks of the compacted buildings. Judging by how bright the beam was, the time couldn’t have been past five in the evening. The bordello was open twenty-four hours a day, but around this time it was dead. In another hour, more customers would start to arrive. Better now than later, Bronze thought to himself as he started down the alleyway.

Through the whole of the walk, Bronze kept his eyes down and his hands in his pockets much in the same way everyone else did as well. He moved without thinking, relying on muscle memory to carry him to his destination. The easiest way to become the prey of a conman or a mugger was to look like you didn’t know where you were going. If you kept your eyes up trying to find your way through the labyrinthine corridors, that meant you weren’t keeping an eye on the guy coming up to you that may or may not be holding a knife.

Bronze continued through the streets and circled around a block or two just to ensure no one was following him before finally arriving at an unassuming shop front and stepped inside to see a full-figured penguin Faunus woman in a Han Fu which was a series of robes layered over on another with a sash tied around the waist. The woman behind the counter held a sort of oval shape to her form with her shoulders transitioning seamlessly into her neck while small black feathers lay flat against the side of her head. A pair of small red lips remained perpetually pursed on her face while the only real expression the Bronze caught was the way she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Finally, tired of sleeping on the streets, are we?” Madam Shui said. “Well unless you have enough to afford a bath then you’re not sleeping here either, I ain’t about to let you give my nice beds a lice infestation.”

“Come on Madam Shui, I haven’t had a flea in years.” Bronze said and ran his hand through his head of hair.

“Probably because they can’t get through that thing on your head you call fur, now what do you want Bronze, you’re not the type to pay for a lonely night.” Madam Shui said.

“You’re right, I’m here to watch the sunset actually.” Bronze said and couldn’t help the smirk on his face at the look of realization on Madam Shui’s face.

“This is a very important job Bronze, you screw this up and it’s not just your head on the block, now come on I’ll show you where she is.” Madam Shui said and threw her weight off to one side to pivot on her heel to turn herself and began to waddle further into the bordello.

Whether or not prostitution was legal in Orcestral, no one down in the slums really knew, but Madam Shui knew how to play it safe. What she sold wasn’t sex, but rather a room and some company for the night. Whether or not that company slept with the client sleeping in the room was fully up to the girl, or at least that’s what Madam Shui claimed.

After walking through the halls, Madam Shui waddled up to a door and poked her head inside of the room.

“Are you decent girl?” She said before opening the door further to allow Bronze inside. “This is Autumn Dusk, Autumn this is Bronze he’s going to be escorting you to your new home.”

Beyond the threshold, bathed in the warm candle light bouncing off the amber gold walls sat a young woman with orange red hair spilling over her shoulders in small ringlet curls. Her Han Fu was pink with a white floral pattern strew across. Her dress betrayed hardly any skin with the neckline only coming down to about the half way mark of her neck. Autumn sat with her legs tucked under her thighs with her hands in her lap as she bowed low to greet Bronze and rose to regard him with a pair of bright blue eyes. With the way she noticed Bronze staring at her, his mouth hanging agape and his eyes wide, she couldn’t help but smile. A blush played across her cheeks and lit up the freckles across the bridge of her nose and the sides of her face. The floppy doe ears at the sides of her head wiggled and fell flat, betraying her emotions as she turned away.

“A pleasure to meet you Bronze.” Autumn said and giggled again at the way she saw his ears flick.

Bronze snapped himself out of his daze, telling himself that she was just a client. He knew better than to mix his professional life with his private life at that.

“Does she have anything else she can wear?” Bronze asked.

“Depends on what you want her to wear, you know I have this nice little Atlassian Bar Maid costume-” Madam Shui began.

“You know what I mean!” Bronze growled. “I can’t take her out wearing that it’s going to draw too much attention.”

“Yeah I got just the thing, head out the back entrance I’ll send her your way when we're all finished.” Madam Shui said and waved Bronze away.

Bronze nodded his goodbye to Autumn and stepped into the hallway before walking out to the back entrance. A precaution for those who wanted to enjoy a night with some company without anyone noticing. When he stepped out into the back alleyway and heard the door shut behind him, he looked over his shoulder and furrowed his brow. The door seamlessly set into the wall enough that it vanished all together after the door shut. He had to give it to Madam Shui, she knew how to run a business. More importantly, she knew how to keep it running at that.

After a few minutes, the door laid into the wall cracked open slightly and Autumn stepped out, peeking her eyes from under the hood she wore around her head.

“Mr. Vulfke?” Autumn called and scanned the alleyway for any trace of him.

“Right here…” Bronze said and flinched away from Autumn when she spun around and nearly slapped him. Though to be fair, Bronze deserved it for startling her like that. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you, but you can call me Bronze by the way.”

“Thank you Bronze, but your last name is interesting,” Autumn began and draped her arms around Bronze’s and began to walk with him from the alleyway. “Are you from Atlas at all?”

“What gave you that idea?” Bronze aske and instinctively pulled his arm up at the feel of Autumn’s fingers resting ever so lightly on his skin.

“Your last name, it means the son of the wolf because the Ke suffix is a common Atlassian naming custom, like son or sen like in the name Johnson or Johnsen.” Autumn said and allowed Bronze to guide her through the streets while she kept his eyes locked onto his features. Bronze meanwhile kept his eyes forward, constantly scanning the horizon.

“I guess I wouldn’t really know, never thought to ask my mother, then again never really had a chance to either.” Bronze said and looked over to Autumn at the feel of her arms tightening around his.

“Oh… I’m so sorry I didn’t-”

“Don’t worry about it, let’s just get you where you need to go.” Bronze said.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Captain Vulfke and the small company he and Colonel Hymn amassed along their run stepped into the center of town just as they reached the hunter academy of Flair. One of the smaller Academies within Mistral, but one that still taught its students what they needed to know before going off to one of the larger four academies that stood in each continent.

            The siege hadn’t spared Flair its wrath with the walkways ripped up from fights long ago while whole chucks of buildings lay in collapsed heaps throughout the campus. In the center of the school, a relay tower stood which was the first good sign the company managed to get through their trek through the city. It was with that tower that they’d be able to keep communication open between teams and with the outside world. It was also where Colonel Hymn and Captain Vulfke would have their debriefing with the General.

            Hymn looked back at the soldiers amassing behind them. Many doubled over from the long run and the fights that occurred with the Grimm as they fought their way this far. They deserved to rest if only for a moment.

            “Company! ‘Tenhut!” Colonel Hymn shouted, “‘tenhut” being military shorthand for calling soldiers to attention. All at once, a few hundred heels clicked together as the once doubled over soldiers stood up straight with their hands at their sides, each one facing Hymn and Vulfke. “You all did well back there, I think you’ve earned some rest so take this time to breathe while you still can. All of you are to remain at the entrance and report to the next ranking officer that arrives and follow their orders, understood?”

            “Ma’am yes ma’am!” Rose from all present soldiers.

            “Dismissed!” Hymn ordered and waved off the men before twirling around and starting for the tower, Bronze falling in beside her as they walked.

            “I have to say, the school held up better than I thought.” Hymn said, surprising Bronze with what seemed to be an invitation to idle conversation.

            “I’m not sure I know a real comparison myself, I’m from the lower levels and only came up here maybe twice.” Bronze said.

            “Lower levels?” Hymn asked and gave him a curious side long glance.

            “The walk ways we came through were built on higher buildings. There is a small network of city streets just below. Nothing really changes down there so I’d wager I could still navigate the city like the back of my hand.” Bronze said.

            “Interesting, why do you think they built the city that way, seems a little…”

            “Oppressive?” Bronze asked and mimicked the side long glance Hymn gave him naught moments ago. “It was, but it was supposed to be a failsafe for an event like this, with no real natural borders and just a wall along the edge of the city people started to get nervous about Grimm coming up so when the city was built, they had an underground area built to work as a shelter. Well when nothing really happened, some opportunistic salesmen saw all that empty space as a means of cheap housing. Around that time people were still raw about the Faunus Revolution so they decided to shove us all down there. Some people like to call it the jungle… about as sensitive as Menagerie if you ask me.”

            “Your knowledge of the underground will be helpful in this operation, there is a good chance that someone may have still used that housing to escape the Grimm, it’s something you should bring up during the debriefing.” Hymn said, ever the utilitarian optimist.

            Hymn and Bronze walked into the center of the school when they received a chiming message on their scrolls. Both producing their phones to check the message and see that it was General Hades asking their presence in the top of the relay tower. Bronze and Hymn walked into the elevator, surprised to see it was still in working order. That meant the local power plant was still operational, or at least the local generator hadn’t given out yet. When the two of them arrived at the top floor, a massive tower of a man sitting at the former head master’s desk greeted them with a nod while four other individuals turned to regard Hymn and Bronze.

            Colonel Zach Greus stood with a bow over his shoulder and a helmet obscuring his face.  He wore a set of dirty rags draped over his shoulders, the rags were no doubt something he picked up along the way to act as a means of camouflage. To his right stood his second in command, a young girl wielding a similar weapon to that of his own though she carried a quiver of arrows whereas Greus didn’t. Captain Streila earned her spot beside Greus after showing she could shoot just as well if not better than the sure shot Colonel himself. While little was known about Greus, Streila’s talkative nature made up for that.

            “Hey you two, about time you got here!” Streila greeted with a smile while Greus gave a quick two finger salute to his fellow officers.

            “We saw you came in with a few more people, glad to see that you managed to pick up a few others along the way.” Colonel Anis Macaria said. She was a soft-spoken girl who held her hands behind her back and stood favoring her right foot in a sort of casual stance despite being in the presence of General Hades. Her soft-spoken nature was something that made her well suited for the support units, her very presence having a calming effect on the room around them while her almost childlike antics made anyone nearly forget her rank within the legion.

            Captain Phestus Forge, a bull Faunus with a set of horns jutting out the sides of his head, stood at her side with a massive war hammer at his back. Unlike normal hunters, Captain Forge’s hammer didn’t have any special attributes beyond having earth Dust inside the hammer head that allowed him to move rock and stone by slamming his hammer into the ground. He served as the weapon for Colonel Macaria as she wasn’t a huntress nor did she have any interest in becoming one. Rather she made her stance on fighting very clear in the fact that she was here to help people no matter what and thus took an oath of pacifism. Captain Phestus was more than happy to act as her protector as well, claiming to be a one-man army in his own right.

             “Good to see you again Captain,” Captain Forge said and stepped over to clap his hand into Bronze’s as the two greeted one another. Though Forge’s hand consumed Bronze’s with how massive the man stood. “And to you as well Colonel.” Phestus said and saluted Colonel Hymn, only dropping his salute when Hymn issued one of her own.

            “Now that we have a few introductions out of the way, I think we can start with the debriefing.” General Hades said and stood to his full length. The only other person to match his height was Phestus while the two men towered over everyone else. Hades was a true beast of a man with broad shoulders and thick strong hands. His weapon, a lance named Spartacus sat leaning up against the desk. “Macaria, you may proceed.”

            “From the looks of the transponders, everyone made it to the ground safely and they are headed to our location now. It looks like we have about half the total Legion on location at the moment and that should allow us to begin setting up our current location to act as a refugee camp.” Macaria said.

            “How long do you think it will take for the rest of the Legion to arrive?” Bronze asked.

            “Judging by the rate at which the transponders are moving, we should have the whole Legion here by tomorrow morning at the latest.” Macaria said and checked the time to confirm this. It was only within the early hours of the evening as well which left them plenty of time before night fall.

            “That’s going to put us behind schedule a little bit.” Streila said.

            “Not like we can just teleport them here either…” Greus retorted.

            “He’s right, our hands are tied when it comes to how many men we have.” Bronze said.

“Though what we do next isn’t up to us,” Hymn began and nodded to General Hades. “What would you have us do Sir?”

“We’ll use this time to secure the area, give the men a day to rest up and then we can start the operation proper after that.” Hades said and turned to look out the window as she saw more people flooding in. Among the crowds, order began to establish itself with officers checking each soldier that came through the gates and gesturing them along into smaller groups forming in one of the four units. When General Hades felt eyes on him, he turned to look at Hymn with a cocked brow. “That is unless you have a better idea?”

“Actually yes, I do, we have men coming in right now and Macaria said that we have about half the legion here already. I think we can spare a few people to start the operation now and have the support unit lock down this location while the assault team does our job.” Macaria demanded.

“I think you’re forgetting one thing here Colonel,” Hades began and turned to face her fully. “These men and women aren’t soldiers, they’re hunters and huntresses, some of them aren’t even academy hunters at that.”

“So, do you expect us to just coddle them and take our sweet time with this operation?” Hymn snapped and stepped forward while the rest of the officers watched as Hades narrowed his eyes at Hymn. “I think forcing these people back into combat will show them some discipline and let them know just what we are dealing with.”

“Need I remind you what attract Grimm?” Hades asked and paused for a moment. “Negative energy, so if we force these men out into the line of duty there is a serious chance we may be sending them off to their death. You saw the city in the state it was when you dropped and it ain’t pretty. On top of that, half the legion is scattered to the winds right now and some of them may not very well make it here alive. So, I think your perception of where I come from is sorely misguided Colonel because these men and women are a volunteer unit of hunters and huntresses, not Atlas soldiers and I will also remind you that they all come from different worlds than your own. Just because this is an average day for someone like you in Vacuo doesn’t mean it is for someone in Mistral. You will follow orders as I give them to you and my orders are to wait and secure our position. You step out of line again and I will personally put you back in your place…”

A heavy silence hung in the air, Hymn and Hades locking eyes with one another and holding each in their gaze. The energy that passed between the two of them said what a million words couldn’t and Hymn backed away with a nod of her head.

“My apologies sir.” Hymn said.

The officers spent the reminder of the meeting planning out their next phase of the attack. Grimm ruled the city at each level leaving many citizens still trapped inside their own homes as the streets were too dangerous to proceed. Much of the meeting was spent rehashing what the officers already told their men inside the ships they arrived in, but with the most recent change in plans, they’d spend some time reinforcing the school to act as makeshift military base and refugee camp. The citizens of Orcestral came first, but only after the Legion knew what they could handle.

When Colonel Hymn shared the new information about the lower levels, General Hades stroked his chin and lowered his gaze in consideration. With the multi-tiered city like this, they’d have to travel well into the depths to find everyone else. The present company looked on as they saw Hades had this look about him that said he’d be damned if he was going to leave anyone behind. It was both inspirational, and concerning.

“The relay tower,” Hades began. “The local tower is still operational correct?”

“I’ll have the engineers in the support unit look at it when they have a chance, but we can still talk to the outside world so that means it’s still working.” Macaria said.

“Get few engineers up here as soon as you can, the rest of you are dismissed, you’re assignments for the remainder of the day are to set up your units in the dormitories and secure our current location.” Hades said and saluted his officers who clicked their heels together and returned the gesture before walking from the office Hades claimed as his own.

The reminder of the day kept Bronze and the others busy with work. The support unit tended to any wounded that came into the Flair while others worked to repair the damages done to the dormitories. With each room able to hold four students they could easily increase that to six in total and have more than enough room for temporary bunks for the influx of civilians. Some of which began to trickle in as the days went by.

Scared and hungry, they hobbled into the safety that would become their home away from home, clutching onto keepsakes that reminded them that not all was lost. When they passed beyond the threshold of the gates, ushered through by hunters and huntresses of the First Legion, some couldn’t hold back the tears as the realization washed over them that they would be okay, that they were safe now.

With the day winding down and the sun setting beyond the horizon, the First Hunter’s Legion in its ever-swelling numbers broke down any furniture that wasn’t necessary like bookshelves, desks and chairs and set up bonfires around the area. Each unit stuck to their own cliques they’d formed and talked amongst themselves while the civilians brought in that day thanked the Legion in any way they could.

Children made gifts out of what they could scavenge while others offered to read stories to the Legion hunters. A small child no older than ten years of age stood with a story book in one hand belting out the lines to his favorite story book and showing the pictures to all present members of the Legion who humored him. Some civilians still brought instruments with them from home and played a few tunes that inspired others to start dancing and singing. Their small refugee camp became more like a village that night and with it, it became more like home.

Bronze caught sight of Private Zure with a young man under his arm as the two walked along the edge of the bonfire camps set up. The young man on Zure’s arm looked to be about a year or so younger than him and had this look to his eyes that Bronze was all too familiar with. That enraptured spark that made everything else in the world around the two of them vanish without a trace with a constant half smirk on either of their faces as the two walked and talked through the night, gradually making their way off to the dormitories. The boy with a ‘come hither dear’ look about him.

Before they’d managed to slip off into the night, Zure must have felt eyes on him as he turned to see Bronze staring right at the two of them. Zure’s eyes went wide with shock and horror at his commanding officer catching him. He opened his mouth to explain himself; before he could even try, Bronze pressed his index finger to his lips and winked at him. A gesture that said ‘It will be our little secret, just this once…’ He wasn’t about to interrupt, some company for a single night wouldn’t cause any issues.

When he turned his attention back to the fire, a young woman came up to sit beside him and laid her hand over his causing the ears atop Bronze’s head to perk up. When he gave the woman a side long glance, she smiled at him and curled her fingers around his.

“Looks like this isn’t an uncommon way to say thank you.” The woman said as she nodded off to Zure and the boy.

In favor of a response, Bronze used his free hand to produce a set of dog tags from around his neck. A silver wedding band that hung from the chain caught the light of the fire and the light in the woman’s eyes vanished with a snap, her grip over Bronze’s hand loosening up with a sullen “Oh…”

“I’m flattered, but-” Bronze began and watched the woman stand, politely smile and walk away before her presence was replaced by a small group of children rushing up to meet him.

“See I told you I saw one, he even has pointy ears!” One of the children said.

Bronze furrowed his brow with a scoff and cocked his head at the children who looked up in amazement at him.

“Never seen a Faunas before?” Bronze asked with a smile and watched the children shake their heads. He dropped himself to one knee. “Were no different than you, promise even if we look like animals sometimes.”

“He’s got ears like a Beowulf!” One child exclaimed.

“Can I touch ‘em!” Another requested.

“Yeah he even kinda looks like a Beowulf!” A third said.

“You dummy, you never seen a Beowulf so how would you know!”

“I have too, I saw one when we came here!”

“Liar!”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“Hey, that’s enough!” Bronze snapped, his voice only raising just an octave higher than that of the children’s just to get to their attention. “Here, I may look like a Beowulf-”

“Told you so!” one child interjected but jumped at the way Bronze glared at him.

“But that just means I’m a good hunter because of it,” Bronze said and took the wrist of one of the children in his hand and set their fingers around his ear and felt them pet his head. “My ears help me hear better, so I’ll know if anything is coming in the night and my eyes help me see in the dark too. But that’s just me, all Faunus are special in their own way, all of us have at least one animal part on our bodies but that doesn’t mean were very different from you or anyone else. You guys are just as special as we are.”

“Does that mean we can be hunters too!” One child shouted with a spark in his eyes.

“Well sure, in fact I think you’ve all got the making of great hunters, what do you say I recruit you guys to the Junior Hunter’s Legion, huh?” Bronze said and laughed at the way the kids beamed up at him with smiles as wide as their heads. “But it comes with a catch, you’re all too young to fight monsters just yet, so you have to leave that to the rest of us but while were away that means you get to help everyone else in the camp. If you work really hard, you might even get a cool badge like mine.” Bronze said and tapped the captain’s patch on the side of his arm.

“Kids, that’s enough stop bothering him.” An elderly gentleman said as he hobbled over with the aid of a cane and shooed them away. “Terribly sorry about sir, kids are just excited to see so many professional hunters in one place.” The elder said with a chuckle before turning his attention to the children. “Off to bed with the lot of ya, just cause were here don’t mean bed time changes, no come on.”

The children protested and groaned with exasperation before looking to Bronze for some means of getting out of this.

“You’re all junior hunters now so that means you have to keep your strength up, even us professional hunters have bed times too.” Bronze said and knelt before one of the children to ruffle their hair. The children accepted this and trotted off with one another off to the dorms that would house the civilians.

“Have any kids of your own?” The elderly man asked. “Can’t say any of those little ones are mine, I’ve just been keeping a roof over their heads since the crisis.”

“Yeah, just one and I’m hoping he got out…” Bronze said and cast his gaze towards the city, a sudden pressure weighing down on his chest while his ears lay flat against his head.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

_Years earlier_

            Bronze and Autumn walked around a small second-hand store in the lower districts of Orcestral. Autumn walked around the various boxes piled up along the floor, nothing really catching her eye despite the best efforts of the clerk standing at his makeshift counter that was no more than a plank of wood between two saw horses. The shop as it were was little more than several boxes of clothes and various other items piled into cardboard boxes with labels on the sides written in marker.

            “Oh, this is cute~” Autumn remarked and picked up a well-worn qipao, a form fitting dress with a high collar and a skirt that went down to about her knees. She held it up to herself and faced Bronze who looked up from his rummaging to see her smiling down at him.

            Before he could stop himself, he imagined Autumn squeezing herself into that dress, thinking about the way the waist would cinch around her curves and how her red hair would complement the purple floral pattern of the qipao. He felt a warmth come to his cheeks and a laugh escape his throat in favor of a better response.

            “I take it you think so too?” Autumn asked, reading Bronze’s expressions with a flattered smile. “Or are you still thinking about what that bar maid thing would have looked like?”

            Bronze’s eyes went wide as he turned his attention back to the box, hoping that was enough to hide the blush that took over his face.

            “Well now I am…” Bronze mused to himself and plucked out a black flat cap and inspected it. No holes, the stitching would hold for some time, or at least as long as he needed it to, and it was his size. He placed the cap on his head to ensure it fit and looked at himself in the mirror. His wolf ears laid flat against his head underneath the cap and there was no unsightly bulge atop his head that might suggest he was a Faunus.

            “Cute little corset, tiny skirt, pair of stockings…” Autumn began and circled around front of Bronze and adjusted his hat, noticing the way his eyes refused to meet his and could tell he couldn’t get that prior image out of his head.  “Looks good, you could probably pass for a human with that on.” Autumn said and grazed a hand across his chest, feeling his muscular form contained under his shirt as she smirked at the thought of it. Just beneath his chest however, she could feel how hard his heart was beating, the reverberation through his sternum almost like the beat of a drum.

            “I’ll cut you a deal on the dress and throw the hat in for free!” The man behind the counter said. “Letting a dress like that go without a pretty lady like you would be a crime.”

            Autumn giggled at the compliment and Bronze smiled to her before reminding himself where he was. Walking over to the counter he set down a few bills of Lien to pay for the hat, tipping the brim before walking away.

            “Come on, this stuff is gonna look like rags in comparison to what you’ll be wearing.” Bronze said and tapped Autumn on the back to gesture her to follow him.

            “Oh, yeah I suppose you’re right…” Autumn said with a sullen tone to her voice before setting the dress back in the box and bowing apologetically to the shop keep. She hopped over to Bronze’s side and folded her hands out before herself, her hood still pulled over most of her head while Bronze adjusted his flat cap. The two walked in silence for a time.

            “I meant it back there…” Autumn said and nudged Bronze to get his attention.

            “What?” Bronze asked.

            “That you look good in that hat, I think it’s a good look on you, I just wish I could see your cute little ears.” Autumn said and beamed up at Bronze with the way he smiled at her comment. She stepped closer into him, matching her step with his so as not to step on his feet. “What made you choose this kind of life?”

            “What do you mean?” Bronze asked, his attention split between keeping his eyes open and compensating for his loss of hearing with his ears flattened under his hat.

            “I mean being a smuggler, I heard your name passed around at the bordello plenty of times so I guess that means you’re good at what you do, but no one is born with the kind of skill people seem to think you have.” Autumn said and watched Bronze mull over his answer for a while. He pursed his lips, blew a stream of air out and looked away from what was in front of him as he stroked his chin. Autumn was about to redact her question when Bronze finally spoke up again.

            “I guess… because I didn’t have a choice, or I didn’t feel like I had one. Being born a Faunus, not really knowing where I came from, being born down here, circumstances provided I thought it was a way to make ends meet, make sure I had food for tomorrow. It’s not pretty but I learned that you don’t get much of a choice in what your life looks like.” Bronze said and flinched at the feeling of Autumn’s hand slipping into his. He kept his attention forward, but tentatively wrapped his hand around hers.

            “I’m from Vacuo, do you know where that is?” Autumn asked in a way that didn’t come off as patronizing as the question would have seemed had it come from someone else. “It’s in the continent of Sanus, west of Vale. It’s a lot of desert land, its hot and muggy all the time and because of that we never really get to stay in one spot for very long before Grimm are breathing down our necks.” Autumn sighed and looked to the sky. “But it was home for me for a while.”

            “What made you come here of all places then, if you could get out why not Menagerie?” Bronze said. He knew what Menagerie stood for, it was a way of getting Faunus out of the kingdoms, segregating them into their own little island so humans could live their idyllic lives. But a whole country of Faunus, a place where someone didn’t have to hide who they were, what they were, that didn’t sound all that bad.

            Now it was Autumn’s turn to mull over the question, though she managed to answer far quicker than Bronzed did.

            “I feel like if I went to Menagerie, that’s where I’d stay, I’d feel like I couldn’t go anywhere else or be someone else. I feel like here, it’s a new experience, I realize its not a good one by any means but it’s something and I know I won’t do this for the rest of my life either. I’ll only be doing this just till I can find something better or maybe make enough that I never have to work again. I guess I came here for the experience of it all, because I’d like to eventually have someone I can share this story with someday.” Autumn said and turned to Bronze, her face going slack and pale once she noticed his expression and pulled closer to him. “What is it, what’s wrong?” She whispered and looked ahead of them once Bronze nodded.

            Ahead of them a few human men stumbled out of a local tavern just along the edge of the slums and the start of the upper levels. They swayed and slurred their words and wore drunken smiles on their red faces. On each of them, a tattoo etched their skin in black ink. All of them within a similar theme. An animal skull with either a clever sticking out of it or a knife going through. The one part that stayed the same was the ribbon that went across that read “Black Butchers.”

            “Keep your eyes down and your hood up, I tell you to run you run as fast as you can back to the slums.” Bronze said and tightened his grip over Autumn’s hand and felt her do the same. “Promise me…”

            “But-” Autumn began.

            “Promise me… please.” Bronze’s eyes pleaded as much as his voice, forcing Autumn to swallow back the dryness in her throat before nodding her head.

            The two of them walked forward towards Black Butchers. Bronze knew if they tried to go around or double back it would only draw their attention since the Butchers stopped laughing as Bronze and Autumn approach. They watched them silently, one with a crooked smirk on his face, another held his hand at a knife on his belt while a third locked eyes with Bronze as they passed each other.

            Bronze moved to tip the brim of his hat to the Butcher before feeling it pulled away from his head. His eyes went wide as his ears flipped out of his head and the smiles on the Butchers faces came back. The four men in total circled around Bronze, one drawing a knife, another cracking his knuckles.

            “Aww has the widdle puppy dog lost his way?” One of the bald Butchers said.

            “We’re just passing through…” Bronze said and tried to snatch his hat back only to have it pulled out of reach.

            “Hey, bad dog, no snatching!” The bald one snapped and pointed a finger at Bronze with a scowl.

            Bronze’s blood boiled, his teeth ground together as his ears laid flat against his head. He kept his lips pursed into a flat like to keep himself from bearing his teeth while Autumn pulled in closer to her.

            “Looks like the puppy is going for his walkies for the day.” The Butcher with the knife said and reached up to rip the hood from Autumn’s head. “Would you look at that, couple of fuckin animal freaks, didn’t know they’d be running a two for one special today.”

            “I don’t know guys,” A third butcher with greasy slicked back hair said and eyed Autumn from head to toe. “This one is kinda cute, I’d fuck it.”

            “You’d seriously stick your dick in that?” The bald Butcher said.

            “Hey I’ve stuck my dick in worse.” The greasy Butcher said.

            “Yeah we’ve all seen your wife!” The Butcher with the knife said with a boisterous laugh as he twirled the knife around his finger, his laugh catching in his throat as the knife suddenly left his hand.

            He looked on at Autumn with fury in her eyes and before he could retaliate, Autumn grabbed the Butcher by the throat with one hand and slammed him up against the wall. The Butcher’s hands went up beside his head out of instinct while Autumn plunged the tip of the blade into the Butcher’s hand, pinning him to the side of the bar. The Butcher screamed out as blood ran down his forearm and he tried to wrench the blade free.

            “Bronze, run!” Autumn demanded.

            Bronze stood there dumbstruck for a moment, he had skill in disarming opponents with knifes, it was almost a required skill when you lived down in the slums with how many muggers hung around corners. He never though a girl like Autumn would have ice in her veins enough to do something like this however.

            “Run!” Autumn shouted again and kicked a Butcher in the crotch to cause him to double over in pain and buy them some time.

            With their exit back into the slums cut off by the remaining two Butchers, Bronze’s only choice was to run further into the city. He hopped in place, trying to get his body to respond, to turn around, to run away, but he couldn’t take his line of sight away from Autumn. When she rushed passed him, Bronze finally found the momentum to run with her, easily out running her in the process.

            The two rounded a corner into an alleyway while the Butchers started after them with threats of violence and slurs. Bronze looked back over his shoulder to see Autumn falling behind and just beyond her the Butchers slowly gaining on their trail. Turning his attention forward, he rounded another corner through the alleyways.

            Autumn rounded the corner after him only to find it a dead end and no sign of Bronze anywhere. She cursed and gripped the sides of her head, her breathing heavy and labored as she looked over her shoulder at the sound of the approaching Butchers.

            “She went this way!”

            “Come on you bitch and we’ll take turns with ya!”

            Autumn turned back to the alley way and dug her feet into the ground in hopes of making a mad dash past the butchers. She couldn’t let them catch her, each of them was far too strong and she was already out numbered. Even the trick she pulled back at the bar front was no more than luck and good timing.

            Before she stepped foot outside the dead-end alley, the darkness of the shadows reached out and snatched her wrist. She gasped as she lost her footing and fell before trying to scream only to have another tendril of darkness wrap around her mouth and pull her in. Her heart pounded in her chest while Autumn breathed heavily through her nostrils and felt as if she might pass out only to see a familiar face emerge from the darkness.

            Bronze looked on at her and pressed an index finger to his lips before fading back into the darkness with Autumn in his arms. Just as the Butcher’s rounded the corner, Autumn wrapped her arms around the corporeal feel of Bronze’s torso. Bronze turned himself away so that his back was facing outward and his body shielded Autumn as he pinned her up against the wall. Bronze drew in a breath and held onto it while he heard footsteps behind him and the banter of the Butchers.

            “Where the hell did he go?” One Butcher asked.

            “I saw him come in here, he’s gotta be hiding.” Another Butcher said and clapped his hands together and whistled, trying to call after Bronze like a dog.

            The Butchers scanned the alleyway, fanning out along the small corridor as they felt along the walls, kicked up trash cans and opened the dumpsters to try and find their prey. When they had no luck, the Butchers walked from the alley with a grumble and a curse, each one blaming the other for letting the Faunus get away.

            Bronze kept Autumn pressed against the wall with his body for a few minutes longer till he knew for sure that the Butchers would be long gone. He turned his ears outward, listening to the sounds of the city around him. An air conditioner clicked on, a few blocks away someone’s child woke up from a nap crying, but there were no sounds that betrayed the Butcher’s being near. Satisfied with that, Bronze exhaled the breath he was holding and with it a black plume of smoke fell away, making Autumn and Bronze visible within the alley way once more.

            “How did you do that?” Autumn asked and kept her arms wrapped around Bronze’s body, her chest pressed up against his. The two close enough to feel the others still pounding heartbeat.

            “It’s my semblance: Fade.” Bronze said and pulled his hands from the wall and rested them at Autumn’s hips.

            “You have a semblance?” Autumn said and drew her arms to rest her hands at Bronze’s chest and watched as Bronze nodded his head. “And you’re only now using it because…?”

            Bronze found himself at a loss for words. He opened his mouth, hoping some stream of consciousness thought would justify why he didn’t use this before while his ears laid flat against his head in frustrated embarrassment.

            “I uhh, well I thought you might feel safer if I walked with you and-” Bronze began before his breath hitched in his throat at the feel of Autumn’s arms wrapping around the back of his neck while she pulled herself up and kissed him, her lips falling on his cheek and just the corner of his mouth while she giggled and returned her hands to his chest.

            “Thank you.” Autumn whispered and held Bronze in her bright blue eyes, keeping him entrapped there in her gaze.

            Bronze almost didn’t have the strength to pull away, but he reminded himself what the job was and drew his hands away from Autumn’s hips before taking a step back. Autumn responded by taking a step forward and returning herself to the prior position.

            “Wait, please just… a little bit longer I’m just really shaken up right now…” Autumn pleaded and placed her hand’s in Bronze’s only to watch him blush and look away from him like a bashful child. She smiled and giggled at this before pecking another kiss to his cheek and giggling even more at the way his attention snapped back towards her, his ears standing on end.

            “Autumn please, we shouldn’t be doing this…” Bronze said and pulled his hands away from her and took another step back only to have the same scenario play out again as Autumn stepped into him once again.

            “Doing what?” Autumn said, feigning ignorance as she wore a knowing smirk.

            “Listen, you’re a-”

            “I’m a what?” Autumn asked and cocked her brow at Bronze. “A… prostitute… client… what am I Bronze?”

            “You’re…” Bronze paused and tried to gather himself, but with his heart pounding in his ears and the warmth of Autumn’s body pressed into his he couldn’t find the space to think. “You’re beautiful-”

            “You think I’m beautiful?” Autumn said.

            “Yes but-”

            “But nothing, I’ve been eyeing you all day and trying to let you know how I feel.” Autumn said and watched as Bronze took another step back only to hit the wall at the opposite side of the alley. Autumn rolled her eyes and stepped forward again, pinning Bronze to the wall with her petit frame. A position Bronze could easily break out of considering Autumn was a head shorter than him and about half his weight.

            “I know what I’m being sold for Bronze, I didn’t choose this kind of life nor did I want it but it’s a life I’m okay with because I know thing could be worse.” Autumn said and drew her hands around the back of Bronze’s neck and felt Bronze’s hands rest at her hips again. “I’ve learned to enjoy what good comes my way, and right now I’m still a free woman. That client doesn’t own me just yet so I’m still allowed to do this.” Autumn said and leaned in on the tips of her toes while Bronze leaned his head down to meet her lips with his. When the two parted, Bronze exhaled a shaken breath while he gripped onto Autumn’s hips to keep his hands from shaking. “I know this all seems strange right now, but after those guys attacked us, it reminded me that I might not get this chance again. But if you’re so opposed to it, then you can just tell them the truth and say I’m the one that came onto you and you couldn’t stop me,”

            Autumn pulled the sash from around her waist and used it to bind Bronze’s wrists with a tight knot before she returned her attention to him. The edge of her robes creating a window to her body laying underneath in a perfect frame. Bronze’s eyes couldn’t help but trace along the suggestion of skin around her legs, her abdomen, and her chest.

            “Because you’re not going to stop me, now do you want to or not?” Autumn asked and waited for an answer from Bronze, the only one he managed was a nod of his head and with that Autumn dropped her robes to the floor and pressed her body up against Bronze while she locked her lips with his, each one moaning into the feel of the other while Bronze pulled the two of them from view with his semblance. The two lovers fading into the darkness as they shared this singular fleeting moment of intimacy.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

            Bronze patrolled the edge of Flair academy in the early hours of the morning. The sky was bright, but grey with overcast clouds blocking out most of the still rising sun. The morning air was chilly, enough so that he could see his breath plume out in a white cloud. When he passed by the other soldiers on patrol, they stepped to the side to allow Bronze to pass and saluted him, only dropping their own salutes after Bronze returned the gesture.

            Off in the distance, towards the dormitories turned barracks, a horn sounded off as a few soldiers hoisted the flag on the pole. They’d allow the civilians and refugees to sleep in a little longer, but the Legion had their own work to do and right about now was time for a shift change on the outer patrols. That also meant breakfast wasn’t too far away. Bronze spent well over twenty-four hours awake, his stomach growled while his head felt cloudy. Nothing a cup of coffee and a plate of food wouldn’t help.

            Last night’s dinner was prepared by the refugees that brought their food with them and insisted on preparing a meal for their saviors. Bronze could still taste the curry from last night while the hint of the spices still lingered in his nose, making him salivate. He was excited to see just what was on the menu this morning. The Legion had a set of prepared meals, the kind that just needed water, but there was something about a meal that didn’t come out of a bag that so much more appealing.

            Moral was high all around; the men were relaxed and happy but also getting antsy. He could tell the new recruits wanted to head out into the city, get their hands dirty killing Grimm and finally begin this operation properly. Truth be told, Bronze felt the same way.

            Before Bronze could dwell on these thoughts any further, something in the distance caught his attention. The sound of a horn blaring causing his pointed ears to twitch, but it was not the same one that sounded just moments ago. No, this one came from the outer edge of Flair, it came from the city.

            Bronze turned his attention towards the front gate and narrowed his eyes to get a better look at the surrounding city. The morning fog obscuring anything beyond mile. The horn sounded again and with it the muffled shouts of something beyond the fog followed by an engine whirling to life. From the fog came a truck speeding towards them with dozens of men following them.

            There was no way to stop the truck barreling towards them, the only option was to get as many people out of the way of its war path as he could. Bronze ordered his men to clear the gate while he flicked his wrists to deploy his chains. When the truck smashed into the gate, the steel bars ripped from the concreate frame and flew forward, crushed under the weight of the truck. Bronze stood directly in the trucks path and saw the driver with as sickening grin on his face as the engine roared and the metal beast picked up speed.

            Bronze heard his men shout to him to get out of the way but ignored their pleas for his safety. Instead he stepped to the side and slashed his chains across the tire. The rolling of the wheel caught Bronze’s chains in the axel giving Bronze more than enough grip to wrench his chains back as he ripped the tire from the axle with ease. The sudden jerk and lack of one wheel caused the truck to topple over onto its side, the battering ram skidding to a hault with the driver smashing his head into the now shattered windshield.

            With the truck toppled, Bronze realized that was the least of their issues thus far. With the gate smashed open, the party that followed the battering ram poured in after and the morning air lit up with sounds of war.

            “This is Captain Vulfke, requesting all hands at the front gate, repeat, all hands at the front gate we’ve been ambushed!” Bronze shouted over his transponder before feeling something break against his head, causing him to lurch forward and turn to see a human man holding the remains of a baseball bat. Bronze growled and bared his teeth at the boy and saw him sprint away.

            Unraveling his chains from around his forearms, Bronze threw a length of chain forward and caught the raider by the ankles, tripping him up. When he yanked him back, the raider clawed at the floor and screamed for help before Bronze whipped his arm into the air causing the raider to fly up and hit the ground with a hard thud, knocking him unconscious.

            The rest of the patrol looked to contain the front gate, trying to stop as many raiders from entering as possible, but their attention spread thin as the raider’s numbers had the legion out matched in moments. Some of the raiders made a mad dash into the school while the Legion tried to keep their attention focused all around them. This only proved to weaken their resolve as many were caught off guard by approaching raiders.

            “Focus on securing the gate, let the rest of the Legion pick off the stragglers!” Bronze ordered and rushed into the fray. If the Legion could break their front line, cut off their means of reinforcements then it was going to be easy enough to clean up what little enforcers managed to get through.

            The soldiers shouted their agreement back to Bronze as they formed a front line that began to push outward. Bronze rushed into the middle of the crowd amassing at the gate, leaping over one of his own soldiers in the process. He rushed in and slung his chains outward and caught the barrel of a rifle one of the raiders held and yanked it from his hand. Twisting his body around, Bonze flung the rifle up and then smashed it back down onto the head of the raider before catching the rifle in his own hands.

            Pressing the stock of the rifle to his shoulder, Bronze took aim down the sights and squeezed the trigger. A blast of Dust and a flash of light sent a bullet ripping through the head of one of the raiders. A second pull of the trigger flattened another while Bronze unloaded the magazine of the firearm into the encroaching invaders. Just as another raider ran up to Bronze, brandishing a rusty machete, Bronze pulled the trigger on the rifle only to hear it click.

            Bronze’s eyes darted down and growled at the gun as if blaming it for running out of ammo before he turned his attention to his assailant. He caught the raider’s blow in the rifle and pulled it away from him, redirecting the attack all together and giving himself a chance to retaliate. He smashed the stock of the rifle into the raiders face, seeing a spray of blood and teeth arch into the air as he fell back.

            “FAUNUS SCU-” One raider shouted, cut short by an arrow made of ice that appeared inside of his head.

            Bronze flinched back at the sudden dead raider flopping to the floor and looked back to the relay tower in the center of the school and knew of only a handful of soldiers could have made that shot. He smiled and scoffed, giving a two fingered salute to Colonel Greus in hopes he saw his thanks.

            “Don’t mention it,” Greus said over the transponder. “I’ll provide sniper support as best I can but I can’t promise I’ll be top of my game with this fog around.”

            When the war horn from before sounded again, the remaining raiders turned to look out towards the city. One shouted for a retreat and the patrol began to push the line. Bronze wanted to give chase, hunt them down and figure out just what was going on here, but he thought better of it.

            “Hold the line, no one in no one out!” Bronze shouted and a round of ‘sir yes sir’ rose from the crowd of soldiers. With the raiders fleeing from the gate, more tried to get out of the school by any means they could.

            Some soldiers took prisoners at gun point, keeping them in place. Some of the raiders wouldn’t go down without a fight and were shot down before they made it two steps. Bronze just watched and let the raiders leave the camp, some of them looking back at Bronze with shock and confusion in their eyes at this show of mercy. Greus, however, wasn’t nearly as generous as many of the fleeing raiders received an arrow in the back while others saw an arrow strike down at the ground right next to their feet. Greus never missed, he only gave warning shots.

            “Captain Vulfke,” Greus called out over the communication system.

            “Yes sir?” Bronze asked and pressed a finger to his ear.

            “Looks like the raiders are falling back, we have a few stragglers inside the school but most of them are surrendering, front gate looks busted to hell what does the patrol look like?” Greus asked.

            Bronze looked at the gate and the tire marks on the concreate from when the truck burst through. The truck itself still sat inside the court yard, toppled over onto its side with smoke coming from the engine. Surveying the front gate further, many of the bodies that lay around them were ones in civilian clothing with makeshift armor around them. Some of the Legion hobbled and limped while teams of two began to carry the wounded.

            “Few casualties, mostly wounded but we won’t know how many are dead till we can get a medical team out here, send an armed team with the support unit too, I don’t know how many are still alive and I’d rather not get caught with my pants down.” Bronze said and flinched at the feel of a hand clamping around his ankle and looked down to see a broken and bloodied face of the raider Bronze smacked with a rifle butt.

            It was amazing he was still alive, but what caught Bronze’s attention even more was the tattoo he wore on his inner forearm. The picture of a ram skull on a pike with the words “Black Butcher” tattooed just underneath. Bronze knelt before the Butcher and took his wrist to get a better look at the tattoo.

            “Greus, call the general, I think I know who were dealing with…” Bronze said and pulled a canteen from his belt. He splashed the water over the man’s face, forcing him to sit up and spit the water out while cleaning the blood out of his mouth and face. Bronze kept hold of him with his arm around the man’s wrist, his grip tight enough to cause him to wince in pain. “You got a name?”

            “Fuck you!” The Butcher said and spit blood to the side.

            “Nice to meet you Mr. You, my name is Bronze and per the Vytal Convention you’re a prisoner of war, now you can either tell me what the hell you’re doing with a Black Butcher tattoo or I can teach you the meaning behind Mantle’s Law.” Bronze said and watched the man snarl and bare his broken teeth.

            “You think I’m scared of you?” The Butcher said with a lisp from his broken teeth and coughed a raspy laugh.

            “After the Great War, about sixty some odd years ago, there was a contract signed by every kingdom in Remnant that agreed upon certain aspects of war. One of which is that prisoners of war are to have any wounds treated to the full extent of their captures’ abilities.”

            “So, you can’t touch me man.” The Butcher said with another laugh and a sickening red smile.

            “Not necessarily,” Bronze said, it was his turn to smile now as he watched the color from the face of the Butcher wash away and his face go slack. “There is another part of that convention called ‘Mantle’s Law’ which basically says that the victor of a war decides what is right. Meaning I can rip you limb from limb if I wanted to and no one would stop me. Do you want to know why?” Bronze asked and saw the light fade from the Butcher’s eyes. “Because you’re out matched, out gunned, and outnumbered. So when this is over you’ll be buried in a shallow grave somewhere while I’m getting a medal for honorable service to the kingdom of Mistral. Now I’m going to ask you again, what’s with the Butcher Tattoo…”

            The Butcher paused and Bronze could read his face. A look of consideration fell over his face while he clenched what little teeth he had. Turning his head to the side, the Butcher spit more blood out and turned his attention to the over turned truck still laying a few meters from them.

            “Go ahead, I dare you to cause I’m a dead man anyway.” The Butcher said with that same raspy laugh Bronze grew to loath.

            Bronze grimaced and bared his teeth, his ears lying flat against his head in annoyance. The Butcher called his bluff. He wasn’t about to torture a man right in front of his own team, let alone within ear shot of the Butchers team that was perhaps still lying in wait.

            “Greus Sir,” Bronze said over his transponder. “Have you seen any of the prisoners yet, do any of them have a tattoo on their body of an animal skull with the words ‘Black Butcher’ anywhere on their bodies?”

            “Yeah, I’m getting word that all the prisoners we captured have that exact tattoo, how’d you know about that?” Greus said.

            “Like I said, I think I know what we’re dealing with, I’ll tell you more about it in person, I’d rather not chatter about this on the coms.” Bronze said.

            “Roger that Vulfke, Hades said to meet up in the tower, I’ll see you there.” Greus said before signing off.

            “This man needs medical attention, a few broken teeth and a broken nose with possible concussion!” Bronze said as the support team came rushing over towards him. The support team gave the patrol a quick look over before dismissing them as fine and well. The injuries sustained on behalf of the Legion looked to be small. The body count from the Butchers however was within the dozens.

            The support team came over to Bronze’s side and used a set of hand cuffs to keep the Butcher in place while they placed him on a stretcher and a team of two brought him further into the camp for further medical attention.

            “Captain Vulfke, I’m here to relieve you of duty.” Captain Forge boomed as he came trundling up to Bronze and saluted.

            “Thanks, I got a meeting to get to anyway, Colonel Macaria around?” Bronze asked and searched the incoming support units for the colonel.

            “She’s in the medical bay directing patients and taking care of the civilians, they’re a little worked up right now.” Forge said and stroked his broad chin as he looked out to the city with a sigh. “We need to get this cleaned up quick before Grimm start to arrive, everyone’s a little on edge.”

            “You can’t blame them…” Bronze said and nodded to the bodies around them. “Be sure to double check the dead and move the bodies of the Butchers outside the gate, tell my men to let the Butchers gather their dead in peace and only fire if they’re fired upon.”

            “The Butchers?” Forge asked.

            “I’ll explain later, I have somewhere to be.” Bronze said and waved off Forge before running off into the school.

            When Bronze arrived at the top of the relay tower Hades made his office, he saw Greus and Hymn waiting for him. Greus moved over to clap his hand against Bronze’s, the two men shaking hands. Even though Greus always wore a helmet, Bronze could tell by the way Greus gripped his hand that he was smiling underneath that mask. Hymn looked less than pleased as she kept her arms crossed over her chest and regarded Bronze with a quick glance before turning her attention back to the window that Hades looked out from.

            “That was some pretty impressive stuff you did there with that truck, ripping the wheel clean off like that.” Greus said with a scoff.

            “Thank you, sir, I have to say that shot you made right between the eyes was even more impressive though.” Bronze said with smile and a chuckle before joining Hades’ side at the window.

            “It strikes me as a little convenient that they attacked right around shift change. Right when our numbers were just slightly off…” Hades mused to himself and sighed, his massive shoulders hitching up and dropping. “I think we should refrain from any contact with the refugees from here on out, just as a precaution.”

            “Agreed.” Hymn said. “How long do you think this attack will set us back sir?”

            “Since we have more than just the Grimm to worry about now, this may very well change plans all together. Setting up a path like we initially planned may be too dangerous if these attacks become more frequent.”

            “We can send out small raiding and escort parties into the city then, make an open frequency letting the civilians know where to come to for evacuation and we can air lift them from this location.” Bronze suggested.

            “That’s going to get very expensive, very quickly.” Greus said.

            “But it may very well be the only option we have at this time.” Hades said and sighed again, shaking his head this time. “Greus tells me you found something out Mr. Vulfke?”

            “Yes sir, I was told the prisoners we took all looked to have similar tattoos with the same words on them.” Bronze said.

            “The Black Butchers…” Hymn said. “That’s not what they’re calling themselves though. Some of the medical staff already mention that they’re calling themselves The Human Remnant.”

            “I’m familiar with the Black Butchers but-” Bronze began.

            “You didn’t think to let us know that they might do something like this?” Hymn interrupted and shot a glare towards Bronze. The two of them held each other haze for a moment perhaps longer than either of them should have as Hades stepped between the two and cocked a brow at either of them.

            “Last time I was actually living here was five years ago and the Butchers were just a bunch of drunk assholes that liked to harass Faunus,” Bronze said and gestured to the window overlooking the carnage of the attack that morning. “This isn’t just some drunken fury, this looks like an organized attack.”

            “Well…” Greus began. “Sort of organized anyway, doesn’t it strike anyone as a little odd that they barged in here guns blazing only to retreat when we started to retaliate?”

            “Poor leadership and planning?” Hymn offered.

            “Maybe they weren’t expecting this place to be swarming with hunters?” Bronze said and felt his ears flick while some sense of dread came over him suddenly. As if by a sixth sense, Bronze cast his gaze to the window again just in time to see the truck in the court yard vanish in a fiery explosion that sent bits of metal and shrapnel flying in all directions. The pressure wave of the explosion was enough to rattle the floor in the relay tower.

            Just below the sight of the impact, bodies fell in all directions around the site of the disaster. Bronze could tell from here that some of them were still alive though bleeding profusely as they dragged themselves away from the explosion, leaving a crimson trail of blood in their wake.

            The very air in the office was unbreathable. Thick with dread and malice. Bronze grit his teeth, roared out and rushed from the office at a full sprint without the permission of dismissal from any of the officer’s present.

            “Vulfke get your ass back here!” Hymn shouted and moved to chase after him before Hades held out a massive arm to stop her. Hymn looked to the general for an explanation but only found Hades stoic expression staring off into the distance.

            “He’s an officer and a leader, let him lead and let him go, right now we need all hands on deck in case another attack follows that explosion.” Hades said and grimaced out the window. “This is no longer a rescue operation, this is a declaration of war.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

_Years Earlier_

            Autumn walked through the city streets with her hands folded out before herself. She kept her head down and her hood up, resisting the urge to look up at the prying eyes she constantly felt on her. Every now and again, she’d glance back at her shadow before turning her attention back to what was before her.

            When she came upon a massive mansion, Autumn drew her gaze up and scoffed at the opulence of the place. A near palace with a small stream running around the edge like a moat with fish and flowers floating in the blue water. Bridges connected either side of the house and the rest of the city while walls kept the entrances restricted to the bridge ways leading in while also making the home look to be more of a small fortress.

            “This is the place?” Autumn asked with a smirk before shaking her head, knowing no answer would come of her question before she walked along the bridge and came up to the gate that sectioned off the wall.

            She pressed a button on the side of the gate and heard bells chime inside the house. While she waited, Autumn cast her gaze to the opulent structure that stood looming over her now that she stood closer. She came to the realization that this house, this fortress would be her home for some time. How long that would be, she didn’t know but knew that the industry she was apart of was a revolving door. Eventually the rich tired of their toys and left them to the way side. Perhaps then Autumn could seek opportunities elsewhere.

            “Can I help you miss?” Bai Se said after suddenly appearing. His voice bringing Autumn out of her daydream with a start as she jumped and regarded the man.

            “Yes you can, I’m here for a house call.” Autumn said and pulled back her hood enough to show Bai Se her ears but ensured no other on lookers would be able to see this.

            Bai Se clapped his hands and smiled before nodding and pressing a button on the other side of the gate to allow Autumn to enter. Bai gestured her through and placed a hand at her back to guide her into the mansion.

            “So glad you finally made it, I wasn’t expecting you to arrive so soon but is a shame you arrived alone. I expected more of that dog I hired to escort you.” Bai said and stepped through the front door of the mansion with Autumn in tow.

            “I’m a wolf actually.” Bronze’s voice said, seeming to come from nowhere before a figure clad in black smoke rose from Autumn’s shadow and stepped into the light to reveal himself.

            “Mr. Vulfke!” Bai chirped at his sudden appearance. “A man full of surprises I see, I hope I didn’t upset you too badly with that dog remark, I mean we’re all-”

            “We’re both professionals, yeah now who do I talk to about getting paid?” Bronze demanded and narrowed is eyes at Bai.

            “Give me one moment, would you?” Bai said and produced a scroll from his coat. He pressed a button and turned away from Bronze and Autumn before saying a few hushed words and pocketing his scroll. He offered a hand out to Bronze who looked down at Bai’s hand as if it were an unnatural thing to him before shaking his hand. “Good doing business with Mr. Vulfke, you need only talk with Madam Shui for your payment.”

            “I guess I’ll be on my way then.” Bronze said before feeling Bai’s hand at his chest. He turned to look at the man who wore a smile on his face and stepped back. “Unless there is something else you need from me?”

            “This whole operation has been handled with the utmost care as you’ve promised, I’m very pleased to add Ms. Dusk to my gallery as she’s a beautiful woman.” Bai said.

            “So, you were the client this whole time?” Bronze asked and scoffed. “Little convoluted don’t you think?”

            “Perhaps, I do what I must to maintain my image up here and I must remind you that this needs to stay a secret and I think it would be rather suspicious to have a wolf faunus suddenly stepping out of my home. Bear in mind I am well aware of the threat you made against me when we first met Mr. Vulfke, but you’re already aware of what I plan to do if word gets out about this.” Bai said and left Bronze to think back on their conversation at the bar where Bronze mentioned that using someone like him was a wise choice since he could drop off the face of Remnant and no one would go looking for him. Bronze nodded to Bai in understanding and stepped away from him.

            “Tell me Mr. Vulfke, how old are you exactly?” Bai said and waved Bronze to follow him while Autumn stepped up beside Bai.

            “Eighteen, why?”

            “Ah, a virile young man like yourself must have a few needs scarcely met?” Bai said and stepped up to a set of double doors and placed his hands on the handles before peering over his shoulder at Bronze. A sly smirk on his face with a spark of mischief to his eyes.

            “Legally I’m an adult but I’m still just a kid at the end of the day, you never answered my question though…” Bronze began and cocked his head at the look on Bai’s face.

            “As a show of thanks,” Bai said and flung open the doors into a lounging area with a fountain running through the center of the room and various plants growing around the floors, hanging from the ceiling or stretching across the pillars. The open ceiling allowed for fresh air and sunlight in but the real draw of this lounge was the number of women that splayed themselves out along the court yard. All of them from different races and different kingdoms, each one looking to enjoy the company of the others though when Bai walked in, they all turned their attention to him as if waiting for orders. “I’d like to offer you a bit of company, you will stay till night fall at which point you’ll be free to leave, I believe your Semblance will allow you to get home safely. Till then however, please choose a girl that piques your interest as you can have almost any of them… save for Ms. Dusk here, she and I will be getting to know each other a little better.” Bai said and took Autumn’s hand in his and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

            “You’re a quick learner, how did you know how my Semblance works?” Bronze asked and followed Bai deeper into the lounge area and watched as the girls, each one clad in little more than a few patches of fabric that barley passed for swimwear.

            “I was little more than an assumption based on the data I saw myself, while I don’t know the finer details, I think I have most of it right and I found that in the business world you only need seventy percent of the picture.” Bai said and smiled at a young girl that grazed her fingers along his chin. Bai winked at her in response before pulling in close to whisper in her ear. Bai tried to keep what he said a secret by covering his mouth but Bronze’s hearing picked up what he said. “Be sure to let the others know that I want you to show our guest a good time okay?”

            “In any case,” Bai began and watched as a girl with long black hair and a dark sun kissed complexion draped her arms over Bronze and ran her fingers through his hair. “I understand the concept behind Semblances myself. How they’re an extension of our own emotions or how our emotions are an extension of them. How they manifest themselves in our forms and take on varied abilities…”

            “Our?” Bronze asked and tried to resist leaning into the touch of the girl running her fingers along his scalp while he felt Autumn’s eyes on him constantly. There was no look of jealousy to her eyes, but the simple act of having an audience kept Bronze from giving into the touch of the girl beside him.

            “Yes, I have a semblance of my own or couldn’t you tell?” Bai said with a smile and turned to face Bronze fully. Bronze’s eyes began to unfocus around the general area Bai stood in, his hearing dulled to what Bai said while everything else around Bronze looked to demand his attention more so than the man before him all before it snapped back into focus, Bai seemingly vanishing and appearing all at once. “My Semblance allows me to manipulate the senses of those around me. Sight, hearing, smell, touch, all of it becomes just slightly dulled when I activate my Semblance which allows me to walk around a city otherwise unnoticed. I could walk the streets of the slums and no one would bat an eye at me. It wouldn’t matter what I was wearing or carrying. I could brandish a gun in broad daylight, shoot a man in the chest with millions watching and no one would be able to tell who did it. The real beauty behind this is that I don’t have to use any political power to get some things done Mr. Vulfke… I can handle them myself.”

            “If it’s all the same to you and your guests, I think I’ll just hang out till night fall, I’m not in the mood for the kind of company you’re offering here.” Bronze said and pulled himself away from the woman hanging over him and shuddered at the feel of her caressing hand over his head and across his pointed ears.

            “Perhaps none of these women are to your liking or maybe woman just are not your…?”

            “It’s not that,” Bronze said and smoothed out his hair. “I learned to be professional a long time ago and mixing business and pleasure isn’t a habit I need to form.”

            “Well, if you change your mind, you need only ask one of the girls, in the meantime though it’s obvious you’ve gone weeks without bathing and I’m not about to let you stay here a single moment without a bath, this isn’t optional so, girls if you’d be so kind!” Bai clapped his hands and saw a pair of women flank Bronze on either side and begin to strip off his shirt and pants, much to his own attempted protest though the girls worked fast enough that Bronze had little time or room to retaliate before he was standing naked in the lounge and the women dragged him off to the stream in the center of the room.

            Bai left the woman to the duty he gave them and offered out his hand for Autumn to take. Autumn took Bai’s arm and wrapped herself around him as the two proceeded further into the mansion. Just before they vanished beyond a set of doors, Autumn looked back to Bronze and caught his eye for only a single moment before the doors shut and she vanished.

            It was with that glance that a crushing weight fell onto Bronze’s chest and he felt himself numb to the world around him. Not even the chill of the fountain water he now sat it was enough to bring him out of his own mind. Why had he felt this way? Why should he feel this way? In the back of his mind, Bronze thought that perhaps it was guilt at what he and Autumn did in the alleyway before coming here. Maybe it was the fear of Bai finding out what they did.

            No, he knew what it was and let out a sigh as he turned his head to the side to stare at a point in nowhere. He knew better though, he knew what Autumn was and how these things played out. It didn’t matter how he felt about her or what she said to him. It was just a ploy, she had the same feelings for him as any of the woman washing him right now. Their batting eyes, their coy smiles, the subtle remarks made towards him and their quick accidental touches were all just for show. Autumn was no different, at least that’s what Bronze told himself.

            As the bathing session continued, Bronze focused his mind on enjoying this while it lasted as means of bathing wasn’t readily available in the slums. All housing units in the slums were one room with no appliances beyond what the tenants brought with them. Toiletries were taken care of by various means either by using a bucket or tracking down a public restroom. Bathing stations however were a different story and often a commodity few if any could afford or chose to forego in favor of something more important. After Bronze received his payment, he thought to himself that a proper bath at least once a week was something he could certainly classify as important. Though he had to admit that he felt more than a little bad about how the runoff from the stream turned a shade of brown and grey with all the dirty and grime that washed from his body. When the bath was finished, Bronze stepped out of the fountain and felt admittedly lighter as if the grime on his body somehow added to his weight. When he looked around for something to cover himself or any sign of where his clothes went, he only found a new set waiting for him with a note sitting atop them.

            “I wanted to show my thanks in some way, so I hope these will suffice as an alternate means of showing my gratitude.” The note read, signed from Bai Se and then followed with: “P.S. I had those old rags of yours burned, hope they weren’t sentimental.”

            Bronze saw that Bai had enough sense to give him something subtle to wear. Something that would fit in around the slums without making him stand out or say ‘guess whose suddenly rich.’ He slipped the sleeveless tunic over his shoulders and pulled up the slacks and tied the sash around his waist and looked at himself in the reflection of the pool. Not quite his style, but the girls seemed to think he looked good enough. At their comments, Bronze respectfully nodded his head and left the lounge area.

            When he stepped out of the room, he recoiled at the presence of another person waiting for him at the door. He held a hand to his chest and sighed after realizing it was just Autumn. Pushing past her, he started towards the front gate. The sun began to set and that would provide enough shadows for Bronze to dart through to get back home.

            “So that’s it then?” Autumn said as she followed Bronze through the halls of the mansion. “No goodbye, no good luck… you won’t even look at me?”

            “What do you want me to say?” Bronze said without giving her a passing glance.

            “Something, anything encouraging or at least something about what we went through to get here?” Autumn asked and snatched Bronze’s hand in hers and pulled him towards her. “You could have had any of those girls you know… so why didn’t you?”

            Bronze turned his eyes away from her, his face only vaguely in her general direction. When he felt her fingers tangle with his, her hand gripping gently, he could feel his heart quicken and hoped that Autumn wouldn’t be able to notice. He forced himself to calm down and passed it off as a look of consideration before turning to face her fully and look into her deep blue eyes. It was with that Bronze found his finger slowly curling around Autumns hand and stood there slack jawed, waiting for words that wouldn’t come to him.

            “I told you, I don’t like mixing business and pleasure…” Bronze said only after he forced his gaze away from Autumn.

            “You didn’t seem to have a problem with it back in that-” Autumn started only to be silenced by Bronze pressing a hand to her mouth and wrapping an arm around her waist to keep her from finishing what she said.

            “Unless you’re trying to get me killed, I’d suggest you keep that to yourself and I’ll do the same.” Bronze snapped and bared his teeth only to see a smile in Autumn’s eyes. Bronze looked down and realized how close he was standing to her and moved to step away only to have Autumn keep him within arms reach by holding onto his wrist. She pressed a kiss to his palm and leaned her head into his hand.

            “When I get out of here, because he’ll get bored of me eventually like they all do, I want you to find me, okay?” Autumn and stepped forward, pressing her chest up against his and draping her arms around his collar bones. At his distance, she could feel the way Bronze’s heart hammered in his chest. “Okay?” She asked again and only received a nod from Bronze. Autumn giggled and leaned up on the tips of her toes and pressed a quick kiss to his lips, no more than a single peck before she playfully pushed him away. “Now you can go, I’ll see you later puppy~”

            Bronze watched her step deeper into the mansion for a moment, his thoughts too cluttered and clouded for him to even allow his own body to move. Given a moment, he finally sifted through the myriad of thoughts to force himself to turn around and start towards the gate. When he stepped beyond the threshold of the front door, the cooling air of late evening struck him all at once and allowed him to clear his head. He gave the mansion one last passing glance before he activated his semblance and vanished into the shadows of the encroaching night.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

            A creature with mat black fur stood on two hind legs and craned its neck to the sky. Its long snout twitched as it sniffed their air and its long talon like claws pawed at the ground. The beast sighed out a breath from its massive jaws while its yellow eyes darted around, looking for something it could smell on the winds. Its wolf skull like head surveyed the area as its ears twitched, hearing something off in the distance. The Beowulf’s breathing became quick and labored as it trundled along on all fours, keeping low to the ground and stopping suddenly. The Beowulf sniffed the air again and turned its gaze to the ground only to see a pair of eyes flash in the darkness. Before the Beowulf could even raise a claw, a chain flung out of the darkness and wrapped around the Beowulf’s neck. With a quick surge of energy, small blades deployed along each link of the chain and with one quick yank, the blades ripped and tore into the Beowulf’s neck until it cut clean through. The body and head fell separate from one another as Bronze stepped out of the shadows.

            He kicked the head and grimaced at the face staring up at him, asking himself if he really looked like a Beowulf like the children said he did. He only dwelled on these thoughts as long as the body of the Grimm remained which is to say not long at all as the wind picked up and blew the corpse away. The body vanished all together as the wind picked up and blew the remains away like flecks of ash

            Bronze thought to himself that this was the first Grimm he’d seen since the drop about two days ago. With the attack on Flair and their trek through the city, he was certain they’d be swarming them now more than ever. In all actuality though, the bigger threat came from the Butchers or rather The Human Remnant as they came to call themselves. Bronze thought that perhaps they were keeping the Grimm at bay, culling their numbers to keep attacks to a minimum, but then why did Flair receive so few civilians coming in? Furthermore, why did the Human Remnant have the resources to mount an attack like they did?

            He sighed and passed the thought from his mind and looked to the sky. Judging by the moon's position, it was about midnight. Bronze pressed a finger to his ear and held up a hand to his mouth to muffle the sound of his voice.

            “Check in everyone, let me know if you’re awake or at least alive.” Bronze said.

            “Azotz here, still a little groggy from the nap, but all clear.”

            “Noctua sounding off sir, all clear.”

            “Kachina here, permission to speak freely sir?”

            “Go ahead?” Bronze said.

            “Anyone notice a serious lack of Grimm around here, I saw a single Beowulf skulking around but didn’t think to pursue it.” Kachina said.

            “I think I know the one you’re talking about, I just took its head but other than that, not a thing.” Bronze said and stepped out to the city. Without any lights or any electricity to power them, the city was too dark for most to navigate. Thus, Hades ordered any and all Faunus with natural low light vision to congregate into teams of four to scout out the city.

            They needed a better idea of what they were going to be dealing with after the Human Remnant attacked. The Legion was only one thousand soldiers all together including the support team that consisted of medics to tend to the wounded, cooks to make sure the legion was fed, and forge masters to keep their weapons working. This mean that only about three fourths of the Legion were capable of fighting on the front line. A war could be won with only seven hundred and fifty people, but only if the Legion knew what they were dealing with. As it stood right now, they were running blind, hoping to find a needle in a hay stack.

            “Keep your transponders on and we’ll push another ten miles out to try and find any sign of Grimm or the Butchers. If they’re not on the upper levels then they’ve probably made camp in the lower levels.” Bronze said and winced at the sound of radio feedback screeching in his ear. He yanked out his transponder and adjusted the channel, trying to get rid of the static. “Someone copy, my comms are on the fritz, I’m think I’m picking up something else…”

            “Doctor Rajah Baagh to the medical bay, Doctor Baagh to the medical-” A calm voice called out over Bronze’s communicator before vanishing stream of static.

            “Come again?” Bronze asked and waited for a response. “This is Captain Vulfke, can anyone here me?”

            “Yeah, we can still hear you captain, what’s going on?” Azotz said.

            “I think I picked up some chatter from base, do we have a Doctor Baagh on staff?” Bronze asked.

            “Doctor who?” Azotz asked.

            “Not to my knowledge sir, if I may ask where did you hear that name from?” Noctua asked.

            “I just got it over the channel now, someone by the name of Doctor Rajah Baagh being sent to the medical bay.” Bronze said.

“Any idea why you’d pick up something like that sir?” Kachina asked.

            “Our transponders are connected to our scrolls so were all running off the same relay towers, but I know for a fact I set my scroll to short range, so whatever that was, it was close.” Bronze stroked his chin and sighed. “Converge on my position, it might just be some random static, but I have a feeling about this…”

            In the time it took Bronze’s team to arrive at his location, Bronze confirmed his suspicions once he was able to contact the support unit. When he asked Colonel Macaria about this Doctor Baagh person, she only gave him a confused hum in response before stating they never had anyone by that name. Bronze thanked her for at least humoring him before turning his attention out to the city at the sound of something brushing across the winds.

            A bat Faunus, Sargent Major Cam Azotz glided in before landing silently beside Bronze and issuing a salute. Bronze returned the gesture and saw that Sargent Athena Noctua wasn’t far behind. She was an Owl faunus with a pair of wings around her arms like how Sargent Major Azotz had wings of his own but with feathers instead of a thin membrane of skin. The final part of the team came skulking up behind Bronze, his padded feet making his entrance all but undetectable. The only reason Bronze managed to catch the mountain lion Faunus Specialist Toho Kachina was when he chose to make his presence known by greeting his Captain. When Bronze turned himself around, he hoped that Kachina hadn’t seen him nearly jump out of his own skin, but while his face betrayed nothing, the way his tail swung from side to side said otherwise.

            “So, what exactly are we doing here sir?” Kachina asked and for a moment Bronze had to think it over. It was cross static, something he could have just picked up from anything or anywhere. It could just be an old public announcement system from a nearby hospital playing on repeat. If that was the case, why did he feel something in the back of his mind about it?

            “I mentioned before that our scrolls are set to short range, that means they’re only effective within about two or three miles of one another, whatever I picked up might be from a local camp, somewhere within that two to three-mile radius, so let’s fan out, try and find something around this area. If you find anything, do not engage just report it and we’ll be on our way. This is just a recon operation, understood?” Bronze asked and his team nodded in understanding. With a wave of his hand, Azotz and Noctua took to the sky while Kachina hopped from the building and bounded across the roof tops. That left Bronze to prowl along the ground to cover as much space as possible.

            Bronze was never one for technology, an obvious trait by the simplicity of his weapon, but he knew the basics and pulled his scroll from his pocket. Fiddling around with the settings, he set the frequency to scan the area for any open channels, trying to catch any static that might be in the air. For a few minutes, he listed to open static, picking up nothing but white noise before the static honed in on a signal. It was faint, but something was still there. He adjusted the frequency to try and get a better listen in on the audio, but only managed to get a few vague words here and there. The constant shushing noise drowned out most of the words, but it was something he could work with.

            With his attention divided between listening to the faint voices over the radio and the silence of the city, Bronze proceeded through the shadowy alleyways trying to find a solid direction go towards to strengthen the signal. In his distracted state, he failed to notice the beast at the other end of the alleyway waiting for him. A bore like creature with a bone white mask and tusks curling up and around its snout, its presence made known by the way it stomped on the ground and snorted.

            Bronze looked up to the Boarbatusk with partial disdain and rolled his eyes as his shoulders slumped. Turning his attention fully to the Grimm, he took a fighting stance to deal with the beast so that he could promptly return to what he was doing before. His fighting situation may not have been ideal given the circumstances either. The tight walls around Bronze didn’t allow him to just leap off to the side in the event of a charge and jumping over the Boarbatusk was only asking to be gored by the tusks at the side of the pig monster’s snout. One quick strike between the eyes and the eyes and the Grimm would go down like any other.

            “I ain’t got all night ass hole, let’s get this over with…” Bronze said and stormed towards the Boarbatusk and reared back a fist as he stomped forward. Just as his foot hit the ground, he heard a beep and a click as something cinched around his ankle. He was able to look down just in time to see a snare wrapped around his ankle before a winch yanked him from his feet and into the air. Bronze struck the back of his head against the payment, his vision going blurry with the sudden strike though his Aura prevented any lasting damage that would have otherwise knocked him unconscious.

            Below him the Boarbatusk craned its neck up to look at him with its four eyes, from where Bronze hung, he could swear he could see the Boarbatusk smirking at him. It could just be the strike to his head, but he swore he heard the thing laugh as well. The snare trap around his ankle pulled tight but kept him well above reach of the Boarbatusk which was something. But what really concerned him was the way the snare cinched around his ankle with an automatic torque wrench on the side and a small light flashing on the side. If he was a betting man, he’d say that was probably a silent alarm tipping off someone that something sprung their trap. On top of that, this wasn’t just some rudimentary trap made from scrap metal and some rope either. The band around Bronze’s ankle was made from heavy duty Kevlar, the tracker on the snare was a carbon fiber shell and the mechanism relied on a small motor mounted against the wall. This was all too high tech for someone hunting small prey, this was set up by someone else. On top of that, the non-lethal means of capture meant that whatever stepped into the trap was meant to stay alive till the trap hunter choose otherwise.

            Reaching up to his head, Bronze pressed a button on the transponder attached to his ear three times before realizing the dead channel wouldn’t connect to any of his team. One thing right after the next, Bronze thought to himself. Reaching into his pocket, he tried to grab his scroll to try and change the channel before it slipped right between his fingers and fell to the floor, the phone crashing and shattering into a few pieces while the Boarbatusk stomped on it for good measure. Bronze growled and ran his hands through his air to try and calm himself down but with the blood rushing to his head and no real means of his team finding him his situation wasn’t looking good right now. With no other choice, Bronze produced a knife from his belt and pulled himself up to try and cut the cable hanging around his ankle.

            This was by no means ideal for several reasons. One of which being the fall would cause him to land directly on top of a Grimm that was already looking to eat him. Secondly, he also had to worry about whomever the tracker was calling. Bronze only managed to get a few quick slices into the cable before his prior question was answered just as a van pulled up to the alleyway and two people stepped out. Bronze wouldn’t have time to cut through the Kevlar now, not that he had any real ability to begin with as the cable was cut resistant and his knife didn’t even manage to cut even half a millimeter.

            The figures that stepped out of the van wore all black, no insignia betraying who they worked for while their faced remained covered to conceal their identities. The body armor suggested that they were soldiers of a sort, or at least some means of security detail while the weapons that hung at their hips, a couple of Dust powered pistols, meant that the trap Bronze fell for was more than likely theirs.

            When the soldiers stepped into the alleyway, they staggered back at the sight of Bronze hanging there with a Boarbatusk hanging beneath him. Though he couldn’t see a smile on the soldier’s face, he could hear the way he laughed under his mask and saw him shake his head.

            “Looks like we got ourselves a two for one,” The soldier said and drew his pistol as he stepped forward and unloaded two shots into the head of the Boarbatusk. Two golden bolts of struck the Grimm and electricity arched around its body till it lay stunned and twitching on the floor. “Take care of the Grimm, I want to have a word with our friend here…”

            “Who the fuck are you!” Bronze growled and swung his knife outward to keep the soldier away from him though he was at a serious disadvantage of range now as the soldier responded by stepping out of arms reach of Bronze and pointing a pistol at his head.

            “Whoa there puppy dog, don’t do anything rash now cause I really don’t want to waste a bullet on your ass.” The soldier said and pulled back the hammer of his pistol as he leveled the sights at Bronze’s head. Bronze’s Aura could take a hit, it could take several at that but a direct shot to the head was apt to do some serious damage to him if not outright kill him. With no other choice in the matter, Bronze dropped the knife to the ground and held out his hands to either side of his head. “That’s a good dog, now let’s see who you belong to huh?”

            The soldier stepped forward, one hand still leveling his pistol at Bronze’s head while the other hand reached forward and looked at the dog tag hanging from Bronze’s head. As he read the tags, the soldier nodded his head and let out a raspy laugh before bringing the pistol around to clock him in the head. Bronze snapped back at the strike, his vision blurring again while his face felt puffy and swollen from the feel of all the blood rushing to his head. He wanted to fight back, but with his strength slowly fading from him and unconsciousness threatening to take him into the void, he wasn’t sure how well he’d fair in a fight.

            “Listen Captain Vulfke, you didn’t see shit, you don’t know shit, and you sure as hell won’t point this out report this to General Hades.” The soldier began and paused before taking a handful of Bronze’s hair and shaking him around as he threatened to yank out a whole handful. “What did you see huh?” The soldier demanded and struck Bronze again before he could respond. “What did you see, what happened tonight soldier!”

            “I didn’t…” Bronze paused and winced as the soldier wound up to strike him again before noticing him stop short. “I didn’t see shit, I didn’t see anything… not a thing.” Bronze said and raised his hands to the sides of his head and felt blood begin to roll down the side of his head from the constant blows and saw the soldier nod his head.

            “Good dog,” The soldier said.

            “Sir, we have to get going, the scouter teams will probably be looking for him eventually, so let’s go!” The soldier who took the Boarbatusk away said from the driver side of the van.

            “Yeah, yeah I’ll be right there give me a sec.” The other soldier said and pressed a button on his belt that released Bronze from the snare, causing him to hit the ground head first and collapse.

            Bronze’s vision took longer to clear this time and he knew that another good blow to the head like that and he might go unconscious. He paced both of his hands at the ground to try and push himself up, trying to think about anything other than the reeling pain in his head. Just as he managed to get to his knees, he saw the pistol pair pressed to his forehead and knelt there slack jawed as he braced for what might come next. The only thing that did was a sudden jolt of electricity flying through his body, lighting up every single nerve in his system before numbness set in and he fell unconscious to the cold ground.

            “You’re a good soldier Vulfke, be a shame to lose someone like you, so just keep your nose out of this one…” The soldier whispered in Bronze’s ear moments before unconsciousness took hold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if anyone is still interested in this fic with a comment or Kudos and i'll keep going with this. If not then I may stop posting after chapter ten due to a lack of interest. Thanks for reading.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

_Years Earlier_

            Bronze sat in the bar he met Bai Se in, his back to a wall with one hand subconsciously resting on the bulge in his pocket from the 20,000 Lien he had in his pocket. Or rather more accurately about 19,826 Lien after investing in some simple pleasures. The bar offered rooms, not in the same way Madam Shui offered them, and Bronze thought that having four walls and a roof might be better than sleeping on the streets. He’d stayed in the hotel for about a month now, only coming out of his room for food on occasion or at least for the atmosphere of company that the bar afforded him. Bronze’s other hand wrapped around the neck of a bottle of hard liquor. What it was exactly Bronze didn’t know nor did he really care. He was never one for simple vices like these as he always saw it as an unnecessary expense, but with money like this to throw around, he thought to toast to himself and what would become his new life the moment he left here and never turned back.

            He was ready to leave, ready to buy a ticket to the cheapest place a ship could take him and start all over again. He had the money to do it, he had the years to make a mistake like this. With his skill set, he could find work no matter where he went. He was just a kid with a few smuggling jobs and a semblance under his belt but if that allowed him to live comfortably here, then he imagined that it might be able to help him prosper somewhere else.

            Bronze brought the mouth of the bottle up to his lips and took another swig, the cold liquor felt hot on his lips and tongue as it went down. He ground his teeth and sighed, his head protesting this shot as if to tell him he had had enough for one night. Perhaps he had though he couldn’t muster up enough energy to pull his legs beneath him and thought to just sit here a moment longer till he sobered up enough to stand on his own two feet. In the meantime, he stared off into a point of nothingness and let his thoughts take hold of him.

            Was this a mistake?

            What was he leaving behind?

            Does he have anything here that would follow him?

            Would anything want to follow him?

            How would Autumn find him again…?

            That last question, that last intrusive thought made Bronze grimace and growl under his breath, his body instinctively going for the bottle as if to punish himself for thinking such a thing. He decided against this though and shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts but only managed to give himself the spins. That feeling like the world is moving around you despite sitting still. At that point, Bronze knew he had enough and capped the bottle before sliding it to the middle of the table.

            The force of the push sent the bottle further than Bronze intended and instead of coming to a rest at the center of the table the bottle looked like it would careen over the edge. Bronze didn’t have the strength or the reflexes to stop it and just watched as the bottle began to tip and waited for the sound of crashing glass that didn’t come. Rather a hand came into view and stopped the bottle, grabbing it by the neck and swiping it away. Bronze furrowed his brow at this and looked up to see a figure standing before him that suddenly came into view.

            Bai Se stood at the opposite end of his table and looked at the label of the bottle, appraising the liquid inside as he turned it over in his hand and nodded his head. Taking the cap off, he whiffed the scent only to grimace and flinch away. Despite this he still knocked back a mouthful and looked as though he confirmed his opinion from before about the liquor.

            “Absolute pig swill…” Bai said and screwed the cap back on before holding the bottle by the neck again.

            “It got me drunk so it’s not that bad.” Bronze said around slurred speech like his tongue was too big for his mouth.

            “They say there is no such thing as good taste, only taste, but I don’t think those people ever had something like this.” Bai said and smiled towards Bronze with a chuckle, the very same Bronze laughed at himself before his eyes went wide at the way Bai swung the bottle towards his head. Bai shattered the bottle over Bronze’s skull and sent him nearly reeling out of his seat while shard of glass littered the floor.

            Bronze’s Aura kept the glass from cutting his face, but he still felt the power behind the strike and looked up at Bai just in time to look him in the eye and feel Bai yank him from his chair. Bronze stumbled forward and gripped onto Bai’s wrists to keep himself steady as his feet tried to find a flat purchase to stand on.

            “You know they told me you were the best, they told me that you get a job done like no one else because you’re one of the better smugglers around here, not quite the best, but you’re damn good about keeping your mouth shut about things.” Bai said and reared back a hand into a closed fist and struck Bronze in the stomach, causing Bronze to lurch forward and evacuate his stomach. All the alcohol he drank within the past hour came pouring out of his mouth as he doubled over and suddenly felt a bit sober.

            “I paid good money for that…” Bronze complained before feeling himself wrenched back and slammed up against the wall.

            “You should get a refund then, speaking of which, I want one myself.” Bai said and shook Bronze who held up his hands to either side of his head.

            Despite not having nearly as much liquor inside of his body than before, he was in no position to start throwing punches.

            “Refund for what, I made that stupid fucking delivery!” Bronze growled.

            “You delivered defective goods!” Bai shouted.

            Bronze looked around the bar and saw that everyone kept to themselves about this whole ordeal, no one made it a point to even look over towards the two men and Bronze realized that this was Bai’s semblance at work. Calling for help was out of the question, there is no way anyone would hear him.

            “I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about you god damn psycho!” Bronze said and planted his hands at Bai’s shoulders and forced him away.

            “Madam Shui’s place, if you’re not there in the next ten minutes I will not only kill you but I will kill the girl you brought me. Ten. Minutes…” Bai said and vanished into thin air using his semblance, the only thing Bronze’s eyes could track was a vague outline of a human being leaving the bar.

            Bronze took a moment to compose himself, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before stepping over to the bar and dropping a few bills onto the counter.

            “Water,” He said.

            “Water is free, not that I won’t take your money, but-” The bartender said and then traced his eyes over to the mess Bronze left at his table. The puke, the liquor, the glass. The bartender responded simply with a nod and set a glass of water onto the counter.

            Bronze used one swig to wash the taste of vomit from his mouth and spit it out on the floor before downing the rest of the glass. The moment he set the glass down the bartender refilled it and Bronze toasted him.

            “The hell happened over there anyway, I didn’t see a damn thing.” The bartender asked.

            “That’s probably for the best,” Bronze said under his breath. “Had a bit of a run in with a client,” Bronze said and rubbed his cheek where the bottle broke over his head. He downed the second glass of water and turned the cup upside down and started for the exit. “Sorry about the mess…”

            Bronze slipped his hands into his pockets and made his way through the city streets, he thought about using his semblance to trace along the shadows but the very idea of summoning up any more Aura than he currently had made his head feel like it was about to pop. Running a hand over his face, he groaned and winced and kept his eyes down which wasn’t hard. His head felt too heavy to lift it much further anyway.

            When he arrived at Madam Shui’s bordello and slid the door open, he saw the little woman raise a slipper above her head with a look of pure rage on her face. Or at least as angry as a little old penguin Faunus can look. Before Madam Shui managed to strike him, Bronze caught her by the wrist and growled low under his breath, glaring at her from under his brow while his ears laid back against his head to further show his disdain.

            In response, Madam Shui dropped the slipper and nodded her head before wrenching her arm out of Bronze’s grasp and slipping the sandal back onto her foot. She gave a curt nod to Bronze and gave him a side long leering glance. For the entire time they’ve known each other, that was the first time Bronze was ever short with her in such a way.

            “Is that any way to treat your mother!” Madam Shui snapped and shook her finger at Bronze.

            “You’re not my mother so don’t even try to pull that crap, you’re just a lady who let me stay in a whore house when I was growing up.” Bronze said and rubbed the side of his head. “Do you have anything for a head ache?”

            “So that’s how you see me huh, last time I do you any favors.” Madam Shui said and reached behind the counter to throw a bottle of pills at Bronze’s head. To her amazement, he managed to catch it and popped a couple of pills into his mouth, chewing them dry before swallowing. “You stink, more than usual too, have you been drinking?”

            “Thought I might celebrate getting paid, so yeah I’ve been drinking.” Bronze said and set the pill bottle onto the desk.

            “Yeah cause this screw up is cause for celebration.” Madam Shui said with a scoff as she rolled her eyes. She gestured to Bronze to follow her as she proceeded further into the bordello with a waddle and stopped before one of the doors. “Mr. Se is here as I’m sure you already know why, we're going to have a meeting with him and you’re going to fix this.”

            Bronze rolled his eyes at her, not saying a word as he stepped into the room and saw Bai Se kneeling at a small table in the center of the room. Autumn sat right beside him with her hands placed in her lap. When she looked up to see who’d entered, Bronze saw the black eye marking her face. He felt a growl resonate in his chest before Madam Shui elbowed him in the ribs and shot him a sidelong glare. The two took their seats across from Bai and Autumn.

            “What seems to be the issue with the delivery Mr. Se?” Madam Shui asked.

            “I realize what I paid for,” Bai began.

            “Who…” Bronze corrected and caught Bai’s glare only to return it back to him.

            “As I was saying, I realize who I paid for and I know that she was more than… experienced shall we say? Regardless, I know that she was the furthest thing from a virgin girl but when I paid for her to add her to my gallery, I didn’t pay for the unborn child she’s currently carrying.” Bai said and narrowed his eyes at Madam Shui who responded the same way Bronze just did.

            “I do not know if you know this Mr. Se, but sexual intercourse-” Madam Shui began.

            “I never touched her.” Bai snapped. “As a bit of a quality control to ensure the women of my gallery are what I paid for, I wait a month or two before engaging in such acts for reasons I’m sure you’re all well aware of, she’s late so there for someone tampered with my delivery and I want to know who and I want a full refund on my order.”

            “I’m sorry to say Mr. Se but it’s your word against ours and just because you claim you didn’t do anything; doesn’t mean much.” Madam Shui said.

            “So you’re calling me a liar then?” Bai said and leaned back from he table, his head tilting back to look down on Madam Shui from the edge of his nose.

            “What I’m saying is that there is one way to find out if you’re telling the truth and that’s to allow Ms. Dusk to carry the child to term if she so wishes.” Madam Shui said and nodded to Autumn with a smile, the very same Autumn returned. “If the child is born human or doe Faunus, then then child is in fact yours, but if the child comes out as a Faunus of any other kind then we know that it was either Bronze or someone else who…” Madam Shui cleared her throat and said: “Tampered with Ms. Dusk.”

            “I fail to see the validity of this test or the reasoning behind wasting my time like this…” Bai said and cocked his head to the side.

            “Little known fact about the Faunus is that when a human and a Faunus have a child, they will either be Human or the Faunus type of their parent, in this case if the child is yours then they will be a deer Faunus or a human. However, if the other parent is a Faunus to Ms. Dusk’s unborn child, then the child will have a completely random Faunus trait, anything from a monkey’s tail to a set of horns like a ram or bull.” Madam Shui said.

            “You creatures certainly are entertaining,” Bai said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “But I think waiting nine months for this whore to birth her bastard is a bit of a long time to wait,” Bai said and produced a knife from the inside of his coat and pressed it to Autumn’s abdomen. With his other hand, Bai latched his hand onto Autumns arm to keep her in place. “Cutting her open and taking the child out seems like it would give us an answer now that is unless-”

            At in unison, Bronze and Autumn confessed what happed. Autumn shouting that it was Bronze and Bronze shouting that it was his fault. A silence gripped the room while Madam Shui and Bai Se looked to either Bronze or Autumn with a look of shock. The answer satisfied Bai however, enough to force him to set the knife onto the table and remove his hand from Autumn’s arm.

            “There, mystery solved.” Bai said and clapped his hands together and smiled towards Bronze before his eyes darted down to the knife on the table, as if challenging him to try and take it. “What exactly do you plan on doing to rectify this situation Mr. Vulfke.”

            “It’s not his fault, I’m the one that-” Autumn began but cut herself short as Bai shot her a sidelong glare despite the smile still on his face.

            “You seem to think she’s little more than an object, right?” Bronze began and squared himself up to make himself look and feel more imposing than what his mind would otherwise allow. A cold sweat beaded on his face while his ears twitched in protest to his mind forcing them to stand on end, his muscles instinctively wanting them to lay flat against his head but Bronze wouldn’t allow himself to betray his own emotions like this, not now at least. “What do you want for her?”

            “You honestly plan on paying for her yourself?” Bai asked with a scoff and a shake of his head. “I’m sorry Mr. Vulfke but I think a smuggler salary is a little bit under what I paid for her.”

            “Then let me work for you, let me work off the two million you paid for her and after that she and I walk free, no strings attached.” Bronze said.

            “What can you possibly do for me?” Bai asked.

            “The shorter answer is what I can’t do or rather what I won’t do for you. Name a job and consider it done.” Bronze said and caught Autumn’s gaze from the corner of her eye, a spark to her blue eyes lighting up her face while it looked like tears began to prick at the corners. Bronze’s full attention was on Bai however, watching him think it over, watching the gears turn in his head till he nodded and decided.

            “I have a mining operation up in-” Bai began.

            “Deal!” Bronze snapped.

            “… Atlas, you’ll be sent up there today using the money you still have, the wage you earn will be split down the middle, one half going to Ms. Dusk back home and the other going toward the debt you owe. Seem fair?” Bai said and offered out a hand to Bronze.

            “I want that in writing, one copy given to me, Madam Shui, Autumn, and yourself.” Bronze said and watched as Bai pulled his hand back and nodded his head.

            “I’m surprised you know how to read.” Bai said and stood, starting towards the door with Autumn in tow. He carried on as though he didn’t just insult Bronze and went on to say: “I’ll meet you at the docks sometime today, I’ll have the contracts with me and I will see you then Mr. Vulfke.”

            When Bai left the room, Madam Shui and Bronze sat there for a moment, neither sure how to proceed as they both took in the information present to them. Madam Shui pulled her sleeve up and looked down at a stainless-steel bracelet that time wore down but never rusted. She traced a thumb across the small dents in there with a smile and a laugh at the memories it brought. The sound drew Bronze’s attention over to her and he saw the bracelet Madam Shui played with.

            “This was your old teething ring you know, when you were just a pup and your teeth were coming through you chewed on everything you could get your mouth around. Shoes, table legs, people, I gave you a few things to chew on but wood always gave you splinters and you just ate the plastic ones whole. Let me tell you that was an interesting diaper to change.” Madam Shui said and shook her head at the memories. “In the end it looked like metal was the only thing we could use on you that you couldn’t break. Throw it in the fridge for a little bit and you had something nice and cold to sink those budding fangs into. What happened to those days…” Madam Shui turned to look at Bronze and cupped his face in her hands. “What happened to my little pup…”

            “What… what are you talking about?” Bronze asked, the breath leaving his lungs and threatening to collapse them in his chest. When he felt Madam Shui take his hands in her own, Bronze looked down and then back up at her, his fingers instinctively curling around hers.

            “I could go my whole life without telling you this… I was happy enough to see that you were alive and well, better off than I would have hoped which I know isn’t saying much, but I was content to just be a kindly old woman that kept a roof over your head.”

            “What are you saying what are you going on about…” Bronze asked and searched Madam Shui’s eyes for an answer and found it there, but kept searching for any sign that it might not be true.

            “I’m your mother Bronze, your real mother…” Madam Shui said with tears brimming in her eyes. She brought up a hand to wipe them away and sighed out as she gripped tighter to Bronze’s hands. “I was ashamed, I didn’t want my boy to know what his mother did for a living or know that his father was some random customer passing through… I was content being just ‘a lady who let you stay in a whore house when you were growing up’ but I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again if you go running off to Atlas, so I wanted to let you know that I still love you Bronze, I will always love you my son…” Madam Shui said and placed a hand at Bronze’s chest before leaning in to peck a kiss to his forehead.

            “My last name then…?” Bronze asked and held his hand over Shui’s where she placed it on his chest.

            “I made it up, I found an old Atlas translation for wolf and the son of and that’s where your name came from. I didn’t want you to have my last name and I certainly didn’t stop to ask your fathers.” Shui said with a guilty laugh.

            “Thank you…” Bronze said and leaned forward to wrap his arms around Madam Shui and hold her tight in his arms and felt his mother wrap her small arms around him. “For everything you’ve done for me… I don’t have any right asking this of you but…” Bronze pulled away and sighed. “Please can you keep Autumn safe for me, keep her and our child safe.”

            “No one is gonna touch my grand baby, you have my word, now get going before I decide I want to do all those mom things I missed out on when I was raising you.” Shui said and slapped Bronze on the shoulder before watching him stand and vanish beyond the threshold of the door. The moment the door closed behind him, the torrent of emotion Shui held back up till now all came lose as she broke down crying into her hands, shivers wracking her body at the though of her son being sent off for possibly the last time she’d ever see him again.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Bronze awoke to the feel of a canvas cot under his back and a feeling like his brain was trying to crack his skull open. The light of the morning doing little to curb this. He drew his hand up to his forehead and felt a bandage placed there. When he pressed further, he winced at the feel of a burn just underneath the bandage and the events of the night before came back to him. The snare caught around his ankle, smacking his head on the concrete and being beaten within an inch of his life before consciousness faded after being shot with a electric Dust. The shot to his head no doubt causing the burn along his forehead.

            Sitting up slowly, he swung his legs over the edge of the cot and took in his surroundings. He sat in the officer’s medical tent along with many of the other members of the Legion. Some of the Legion Hunters inside turned at the notice of Bronze waking up and greeted him with a smile and a wave.

            “Welcome back to the world of the living, the hell happened to you Captain?” One soldier asked as he slapped down a playing card on the table out in front of him, much to the dismay of the other soldiers playing the game.

            “I’m hoping you can tell me; how did I get back here?” Bronze said and turned to see a small note with a plate beside it. The plate held a small sandwich with a glass of water and two pills sitting beside the sandwich. The note read ‘get well soon’ signed by Bronze’s recon team.

            “Recon carried your butt back here after they found your transponder, said you took a blow to the head and you’ve been asleep ever since.” Another soldier said.

            Bronze mulled over this as he took the pills and swallowed them back with a mouth full of water and scarfed down the sandwich provided. If Bronze had to guess, he was suffering from a minor concussion. His Aura would allow him to heal faster than a normal person and the Aura supplements he’d just taken would see to that all the faster. Though that would be the extent of his care in the medical tent.

            It was understandable that they needed to save as many supplies as they could and just let a natural healing process take its course given the circumstances. Bronze recognized the soldiers playing cards as the very same who fought with him only days ago during the Butcher attack at the front gate. One soldier sat on his bed, a pair of bandaged nubs where is legs used to be. Another had his head bandaged with the gauze packed over his eye while a third sat with a neck brace on.

            “How are the three of you holding up anyway?” Bronze asked as he stood up on shaky feet but managed to collect his balance after a moment.

            “Well my dancing career is in the toilet till I can get some prosthetics.” The soldier with the amputated legs said and waved his stumps in the air, much to the humorous delight of his bunk mates.

            “You call that flailing you do dancing, man I thought you were having a seizure, I was ready to shove my wallet in your mouth.” The soldier with the neck brace said.

            “Keep it up and I’ll shove something in your mouth in a second here!” The amputee said and nudged neck brace.

            “Whoa there I do not need to know what you do in your free time, last I checked a good gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.” The soldier with the eye patch said.

            “Hey, I’m gonna apologize on behalf of who ever told you that dirty lie!” Amputee said and joined his bunk mates in a boisterous laugh that Bronze couldn’t help but join in on.

            It was nice to see his men in high spirits despite their injuries.

            “Maybe we can get you one of those baby carriers and strap you to one of these yahoos, we can get you back on the front in no time.” Bronze teased and tapped amputee’s shoulder with his knuckles.

            “Oh yeah just stack us all together like that one cartoon with the robot cars, oh yeah, by the way Kachina wanted to make sure this got to you.” Amputee said and tossed Bronze a small wooden charm.

            Bronze caught the charm in his hand and inspected it. The charm was a small pendant made of wood, hand carved by the subtle flaws, but it the image of a Beowulf head was obviously the intent. He ran his thumb over the charm and nodded his head before pulling his dog tags from under his shirt, glad to see they were still there along with his ring and slipped the charm right beside the tags.

            “Looks like the nickname is catching on eh Captain Beowulf?” The man with the eyepatch said and winked as best as he could with only one eye.

            “Don’t be jealous because I have a cool nickname and you don’t.” Bronze said and looked to the edge of the tent to see Colonel Macaria enter with Captain Forge following her inside. “Room tenhut!”

            The four of them snapped to attention, neck brace and eyepatch standing so suddenly that they knocked their chairs over while amputee sat up on his stumps.

            “At ease everyone,” Macaria said and waved everyone off as she proceeded over to Bronze and grabbed him by the back of the neck, bring his head down to her level as she shined a light into his eyes. “How are you feeling captain, well enough to stand I see?”

            “Yes ma’am,” Bronze said and complied with the way Macaria jerked him around, giving him a quick once over physical to ensure he was healthy enough to even be standing at all.

            “Good, that means you should be able to visit with the General about your report, he wants to see you personally for this as well, specifically asked you to give it to him.” Macaria said and locked eyes with Bronze as if to punctuate her statement before she ruffled Bronze’s hair with a smile and a giggle. Her nails scratching his ears causing goose bumps to ripple across the back of Bronze’s neck.

            Macaria always kept a casual nature to things, seeing no point to keeping formality when she was the head of the support unit. This also meant she was more than a little affectionate with everyone as well. It was all platonic as she saw emotional therapy as an important part of the healing process for the wounded with the occasional hug or head pat. Or in Bronze’s case, a quick scratch behind the ears. Though that was more so for her own sake than it was for Bronze’s.

            “How are you three feeling so far?” Macaria asked the three men playing cards.

            Bronze assumed Macaria dismissed him as she wasn’t one to get snappy over him just up and leaving a conversation. He nodded a goodbye to Forge who did the same and slapped him on the back, causing Bronze to lurch forward with a scoff. As he made his way through the school and off to the tower in the center, he saw the civilians had begun nesting over the past few days. Their little refugee camp quickly turned into a small city with money and favors exchanging hands for goods and other services. A sense of normality took hold over their makeshift village as civilians lit cook fires behind improvised food stalls while others sold what they scavenged around the area to other civilians.

            From the looks of it, the support unit wasn’t above doing just the same. Medical treatment always came free of charge, but forge masters and technicians kept themselves busy repairing some of the clothing and various items the civilians brought with them. Of course, if a member of the Legion were to need something, they’d take precedence over everyone else. Perhaps an unpopular opinion to the civilians but a harsh reminder of the circumstances everyone was dealing with.

            When Bronze arrived in the center tower, he only managed to make it as far as the entryway before freezing and seeing General Hades standing at the elevator doors. The General nodded to Bronze who nodded back and stepped forward to greet the General with a salute. Hades returned the gesture and called for the elevator, stepping inside quietly while Bronze followed. There was an air of awkwardness to meeting Hades like this as he always seemed to keep himself inside the tower. Bronze wondered what he should say, what he should do, if anything at all for that matter.

            Hades and Bronze spent the elevator ride in total silence, the only sound to break this being the chiming bell as the elevator reached the top floor. Hades stepped out and made his way over to the desk before looking out over the school. Bronze stepped up beside him and saw the school stretched out below. Tents set up across they walk ways while people bustled around keeping busy and guards patrolled the edges of the school. From here it looked like a small city, alive and breathing. Bronze took comfort in this though it was of little aid when in the presence of his commander in chief.

            “Your report Mr. Vulfke, have you told anyone else of the events last night?” Hades asked and peered over towards Bronze.

            “No sir, I haven’t said a word to anyone…” Bronze began.

            “Good, you may proceed then.” Hades said.

            “It was a routine patrol sir, just as you ordered we had a team of four Faunus soldiers patrolling the larger area and scouting for any enemy encampments and-”

            “And you separated yourself and your team from this objective,” Hades said and regarded Bronze with a sidelong glare. “Is that correct?”

            Bronze froze, the words catching in his throat while he looked up to Hades and tried to find the words to say. He felt more like a child in trouble than he had a captain of the First Hunter’s Legion. With quick breath to compose himself, Bronze nodded his head and sighed.

            “Yes sir, I picked up some cross static, the message talked about a Doctor Rajah Baagh-” Bronze began again only for Hades to cut him off once more.

            “And this took precedence over your current assignment because…” Hades asked and rolled his wrist as if to coax out an answer from Bronze.

            “Because I wanted to know why or how we were picking up cross static like that sir, if nothing else if it was a civilian, we could bring them back to help supplement the support unit or at the very least we could help evacuate potentially injured civilians.” Bronze said.

            “There are no civilians anymore Mr. Vulfke, what part of this being a declaration of war was unclear to you?” Hades growled. “Our current objective is to create a display of force and establish ourselves as the dominant army within this city. We need to show the Human Remnant what a real army looks like and make them realize the mistake they made attacking us. It is only after we receive their surrender that we will continue with our operation as normal. So, when I send you out into the city to run recon you do as your assignment tells you and you search for enemy encampments and you do not divert men and resources from that task because of a hunch you may or may not have had about a cross static.”

            Bronze pursed his lips and rolled his neck, trying to work the stress pressing down on his shoulders while an angry blush marked his cheeks at the way Hades scolded him. He relaxed his face, trying not to let his annoyance show while he nodded silently to Hades.

            “Does your team know anything about this mystery doctor Mr. Vulfke?” Hades asked.

            “Nothing sir… I was the only one who picked up the frequency sir…” Bronze said.

            “After you went off to find this person, you were found unconscious with multiple blows to the head per Makaria’s physical, where did these injuries come from?” Hades asked.

            Bronze’s head began to throb with the feeling of his head smacking against the concrete and the constant blows at the hands of that mystery man. The burn on his forehead from the point-blank shot causing Bronze to wince in pain at the memory.

            “I was caught in a snare trap, it wasn’t just something set up with scrap though I had a tracker on it, something to let someone else know the snare was tripped.” Bronze said and waited for Hades to interrupt him again. When he didn’t Bronze carried on. “It wasn’t long before a few men in black uniforms came by, their faces were covered and they carried standard issue pistols loaded with electric dust rounds. They stunned a Grimm and took it with him, they looked like they wanted to take it alive. They also mentioned your name sir, said that I didn’t see anything and I didn’t know anything that happened. They also said I wasn’t to report this to you.”

            “And yet…” Hades said and turned at the sight of Bronze flinching. “You didn’t see anything Mr. Vulfke, you didn’t hear anything and as far as anyone is concerned you were caught off guard and knocked unconscious. You should be grateful to your team as well since they found you so quickly, you might be a dead man otherwise… dismissed Mr. Vulfke.”

            “But Sir I don’t-”

            “Dismissed!” Hades snapped.

            Bronze swallowed hard, his throat suddenly dry while his ears lay flat against his skull, a low whimper coming from his throat despite his better efforts to suppress this. Bronze snapped his heels together and stood at attention before saluting Hades and waited for him to return the gesture. When he didn’t Bronze only nodded his head and left for the elevator. The ride down wasn’t much different than the ride up even without Hades’ presence.

            The ride down felt longer though, by some way it felt like time stretched unto infinity. Though this did give Bronze some time to think on things. He wondered what this was all about, what those soldiers in black needed with Grimm, why they were taking them alive, why Hades wanted to keep this quiet. Bronze wasn’t book smart per se, he never had formal schooling but he knew how to read and write, but that was the extent of his academic learning. What he was is street smart though, an old habit from his younger years living in the jungle of Orcestral. He knew when to keep quiet about things and when to pretend he didn’t see a thing.

            He also knew how to work around prying eyes as well and knew that the only way two people can keep a secret is if one of them is dead. And this secret was between more than just Hades and those mystery soldiers in black. Bronze thought about who he could go to for something like this. He thought about Forge and the connection the two had, but Macaria never left his sight for longer than a second as he acted as her body guard since Macaria was a pacifist. Confiding in him would mean he would need to do the same with Macaria and with how close the Colonels were to Hades himself, that was out of the question.

            Altogether, he couldn’t trust any officer with this information, if he needed someone to trust, he’d need to work his way from the bottom rungs of the ranks and establish a team that way. Perhaps even relying on the civilians to help him out. With a small city growing larger every day as daily recovery teams brought in more refugees, comforts of home and contraband went hand in hand for multiple reasons. A bottle of booze finding its way under someone’s pillow, a little bit of extra sweets in someone’s rations or perhaps some alone time with someone’s favorite magazine model would earn Bronze some favor among the hushed communities of the Legion and the civilians.

            Anyone in their right mind wouldn’t want to deal with a Captain of all people, for obvious reasons, Bronze knew they’d probably think he was trying to catch and report them. Rather he’d need to rely on an old smugglers tactic of dealing in proxies. He needs someone he could trust but someone his clientele could also trust. Someone like…

            “Captain Vulfke sir!” Zure shouted as he came running up to Bronze with a smile and a quick salute. “I heard you were on sick leave for a few days so I was wondering if you’d be willing to tell some of the guys a few stories about your years in the Legion.”

            Someone like him, Bronze thought to himself and smiled to Zure.

            “Sure thing, but I got a favor to ask you too, this needs to stay on the down low as well…” Bronze said.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

_Years Earlier_

 

            Bronze stood at the docks the very same day after his meeting with Bai Se. The dock itself wasn’t a traditional ocean port, but rather it was an air dock over a large cliff face. Air ships came and went through this port as it was an easy means for them to park their ships and unload cargo into the larger city. Orchestral was a land locked city and was a sizable distance away from any larger body of water. The reason for such a place to put commerce was due to the security concern that the location put to rest. The only two ways in or out of the port were a sheer drop off cliff face or somewhere inside the city.

            The cliff face itself stretched well down to the forest floor below and made it nigh impossible to scale without warning, thus keeping things like Grimm and bandits away. Meanwhile the other entrance was on the very fringes of the city which only allowed for a small gab between the air docks and the city. Just enough for people to come and go as they pleased without prying eyes, but not enough for bandits or Grimm to mount an attack against the city.

            Bronze looked at the ticket in his hand as if expecting to see something there, some guidance or message from the universe. The only thing he saw was the words “Atlas: One Way” stamped across the face. The captain already stamped his ticket and warned him that they’d depart within the next half hour. Now Bronze just looked at his home of Orcestral off in the distance, the building stretching into the sky just as the sun began to set along the horizon. Rays of sun peeking through the buildings causing the towers to silhouette in shadows while the ribbons of light stretched out to reach for Bronze as it to pull him back.

            He shook these thoughts from his mind, knowing he had no right to feel homesick for a place he loathed so deeply. He likened it to that of a familiar old pain however, something he’d lived with for so long and once it would be gone there would be this eerie feeling that something was missing from his life, regardless of if it would be for better or for worse.

            “Bronze!” A voice shouted and Bronze surveyed the crowds, happy to indulge a distraction at this point and saw an auburn-haired doe Faunus rushing towards him. Autumn snatched up his hand and slipped a metal ring over his finger, smiling at the way it slid on as if she weren’t sure if it would fit.

            “What are you doing here, what’s with the ring?” Bronze asked and looked up to see Bai Se strolling through the crowd, honestly surprised to see he didn’t have his semblance active.

            “I’m glad to see you didn’t run while you had the chance, perhaps there is honor among thieves.” Bai said with his signature smirk that made Bronze’s stomach lurch out of pure stress and rage.

            “Ignore him, I have a question to ask you!” Autumn snapped and pulled Bronze’s face over to meet hers. “Bronze Vulfke… will you marry me?”

            The words came out, every bit of it formed a sentence, his ears processed what Autumn said but his mind wasn’t willing to understand any of it.

            “W-what?” Bronze asked and saw Bai with a look of shock that probably wasn’t all that dissimilar to his own.

            “Marry me Bronze.”

            “I… uhh… yes?” Bronze said and looked down at the ring again.

            “Yay!” Autumn cheered and looked around before she saw the captain of a ship standing at the docks and hailed him over. “Excuse me, captain, sir! Will you officiate mine and my husband’s wedding?”

            Bronze opened his mouth to speak, to try and protest or at least get a better sense of what was going on, but found the words lost in a myriad of chaos that unfolded all at once. Before he could find the words to say, the captain of the ship stepped over and said he’d be honored to officiate the wedding.

            “Dearly beloved…” The captain began.

            “Yeah no, we need the abridged version.” Autumn said and took Bronze’s hands in hers and turned to him with a beaming infectious smile that made Bronze smile despite his nerves.

            “Very well, if no one objects and you both consent to this union, then you may say ‘I do’” The captain said.

            Bronze half expected Bai to step up and say something and object to the union, but when he hadn’t, Bronze turned his attention back to the woman who was about to become his wife and said in unison with her: “I do.”

            “Then you may now kiss the bride!” The captain said.

            Autumn leaped forward and wrapped her arms around Bronze’s shoulders as her lips met his, the force of the kiss nearly bowling Bronze over onto his back before he managed to catch himself and Autumn from falling. When the two of them parted, Bronze sighed out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and smiled at Autumn who smiled back at him.

            “Okay so I know that was kind of sudden…” Autumn said.

            “Maybe just a little…” Bronze said.

            “But I wanted to see you off before you went to Atlas and I wanted to give you a reason to come back too,” Autumn said and took Bronze’s hand and laid it over her abdomen. “Not just for what would… what will be our child, but for me too. Cause you may have bought me, but I think this says I own you too~” Autumn said and placed her hand over Bronze’s where the ring sat on his finger.

            “I’m yours… forever.” Bronze said and leaned in to feel Autumn’s lips meet his and in the blink of an eye a year came and went.

_One Year Later_

            Bronze sat on his bunk that was little more than a frayed and ripped canvas cot stacked three high inside of a room no larger than five paces in all directions. He leaned forward, looking at the picture in his hand, seeing familiar and new faces there. His wife of one year, Autumn Dusk, his mother Shui, and in Autumn’s arms a little boy with mat black hair and a long cat tail dangling from his back and a set of the bluest eyes he’d ever seen. His son, Cobalt Dusk Vulfke. The picture captioned: “Forever Yours.”

            A shadow stepped over to block his light and Bronze sighed under his breath as he stood and slipped the picture into his pocket before facing the man at the door. Phestus Forge, a massive horned bull Faunus stood there to greet him with a stoic glance.

            “You ready?” Phestus asked.

            “Yeah…” Bronze said and followed Phestus out of the cell he made his home in for the past year.

            The workers bunk at the mine Bai Se sent him to work at was built like a prison with barred doors and three cots inside every room. No one liked to say it, but the nights up north in Atlas were cold enough to freeze a man to death in his sleep and this meant that there were times that one bunk sat three men inside of a cell. There was no romance to this, no means of affection, just a desire to see tomorrow morning, however beak it might be.

            The Bai Se mine divided the shifts down the middle. Twelve-hour days, twelve-hour nights. Bronze and Phestus opted for the morning shift which was really just a formal title considering it started at midnight the night of and went on till noon at which point night shift came to relieve them.

            The night shift workers came in from the outside, shuffling and shambling about with a glazed over look in their eyes while their faces hung slack due to sheer exhaustion. Some collapsed wherever they wouldn’t be in the way, others stopped dead in their tracks and let the others pass them by while some still just made it as far as their cell before laying down and getting what little rest they’d get for the day.

            “Seeing these lot doesn’t exactly give me a lot of faith in this idea of yours,” Phestus said and turned to look at Bronze shuffling beside him. “No offense…”

            “None taken, we don’t need these guys just yet anyway, let them rest and recoup we can call on their help later if we need it.” Bronze said.

            “Easy for you to say, you’re still just a kid,” Phestus said with a scoff. “A lot of these people are old, they’ve been here half their lives and already know that this is where they’re gonna die.”

            Bronze didn’t respond to this, he saw no real point and just carried on through the workers bunks till he reached the outside. The moon hung in the sky, high and bright, illuminating every single snow flake that the wind brushed up across the horizon. Across the workers camp, spot lights shone making the only shadows among the area those cast by the workers shuffling in and out of the bunk houses.

            “How long till sunrise?” Bronze asked, leaning in close to Phestus to ensure he was the only one who heard him.

            Phestus held up a hand to the sky and pondered the question for a moment before nodding his head.

            “I’d say… nine hours, maybe less.” Phestus said and snatched up a pick axe from one of the passing workers and tossed it over to Bronze before taking another one offered out to him.

            Bronze caught the tool and hefted it over his shoulder. A year ago, he wouldn’t have been able to hold something like this over his head. Growing up in the slums of Orcestral made him prioritize calories over nutrition and that thus didn’t allow for a healthy amount of muscle growth. Working a year in the mines however, that had forced his body to grow stronger every day. Couple that with a steady diet of a compressed block of shelf stable meat and carb rich beer and that made for sustainable diet for the workers here that kept them going for cheaper than any substantial food product. Even as a young man, a point Phestus made every chance he got, his joints and muscles still ached from the daily grind though his chiseled form made him a prized worker at this point.

            “You remember the plan, right?” Bronze asked as he stuffed himself into the freight elevator along with the rest of the morning shift workers.

            “Not like you haven’t told me for the past three months, trust me kid I know what I’m supposed to do.” Phestus said.

            “This is your last chance you know, if you want to back out, I won’t hold it against you.” Bronze said and caught Phestus glaring down at him with his stony eyes.

            “I don’t back out and I don’t back down.” Phestus growled and despite his tone, the smirk that curled across his lips assured Bronze that he was with him.

            Bronze looked forward just as the freight elevator came to a halt and couldn’t wipe the smile from his face. Though the sudden blow to his face certainly aided in that. Only stepping two feet out of the freight elevator and Phestus laid him out flat on the floor with one single blow. Bronze clutched his jaw and winced at the bruise forming there before looking up at Phestus looming over him. The bull Faunus cracked his knuckles and the smile he had before turn into a sickening smirk.

            “What the hell man, what’s your problem!” Bronze snapped and only managed to get half way to his feet before a foot connected into his ribs and lifted him off the ground before he went flying deeper into the mine.

            Phestus and Bronze began to attract the attention of those around them. The workers stalled to see the fight unfold while some murmured to themselves and began to joke about making bets. Phestus hoisted Bronze back to his feet and threw another punch hard enough to send him careening back into a crowd that caught him. Bronze felt hands at his back for only a moment before they shoved him forward again and he found his footing. He dug his toes into the ground and closed a tight fist before throwing a punch right into Phestus’ nose causing him to stagger back while his eyes welled with tears.

            The bull pulled his hand back and didn’t see blood, but it was clear by the low wide stance he took, that he was seeing red. With a battle cry, Phestus charged forward with arms stretched out to either side of him. Bronze steadied his stance before jumping at the sound of someone calling his attention. From the crowd, someone tossed Bronze a length of chain which he caught and wrapped around his arm.

            “Kick his ass!” The spectator bellowed.

            Bronze had enough time to turn back to Phestus and bring the chain down onto his head before the moment of impact, sending the charge crashing into the dirt. Bronze twirled the chain around himself and kept his distance from Phestus who rose and shook off the blow. Before either of them could continue their bout, the elevator whirled to life, calling everyone’s attention over to what might be coming, though everyone had a fair idea of what.

            “This is it…” Bronze said and turned to face the freight elevator.

            “Bout damn time.” Phestus said and whistled to one of the workers and held out his hand. He caught a sledge hammer in one of his massive hands and steadied himself while the rest of the workers shirked away from the elevator.

            When the freight elevator came to a stop at the bottom of the shaft, the doors opened and four mercenaries poured out wielding rifles and wearing body armor. They shouted for Phestus and Bronze to drop their weapons while they fanned out in a larger area, blocking the entrance. Bronze and Phestus exchanged a quick knowing glance before turning back to the security guards still shouting before them.

            “This is your last chance, drop the weapons now!” One of the guards shouted.

            “Let’s try and keep them alive.” Bronze said and whipped his chain forward and wrapped it around the wrist of the security guard closest to him. With one strong yank, he pulled the guard from his feet and set him flying into Phestus who held out the head of his hammer and clothes-lined the guard hard enough to knock him out.

            With the first blow struck, the battle unfolded with the guards ordering open fire on Bronze and Phestus. Bronze shrank behind Phestus who crossed his arms over his face to keep the Dust rounds from burning through his head, but his thick skin and natural Aura kept the stunner rounds from doing anything to him. With their line of fire concentrated on Phestus, that left Bronze to vanish into the shadows of the mine and come around behind the guards. Instead of taking the one furthest away from the others, Bronze leaped from the shadows with a length of chain and wrapped it around one of the guard’s necks and began to choke him out, using the guard as a human shield. Amid this chaos, Phestus saw his own time to strike as he charged forward and slammed one guard up against the wall with a sickening crunch that was either from the stones breaking, or the guard’s bones while another quick swing from Phestus’ hammer knocked another unconscious.

            Four still breathing bodies lay on the floor while the workers stared on, struck into silence while a dull roar of questions and conversations began to erupt among the crowd. Before anyone could answer any questions, Phestus whistled again, loud enough to echo through the tunnels of the mine and catch the attention of the workers.

            “My friend here has something he’d like to say.” Phestus said and stepped behind Bronze and placed his massive hands at either shoulder.

            “How many of you know what you’re paid here?” Bronze asked and scanned the faces of everyone as they all considered this for a moment. “If you’re anything like me then you’ve been promised a decent wage to help your families, to pay off a debt, to better the lives of others by sacrificing your own, but how many of you know where your hard work, your sweat from your labor goes?” Bronze bellowed and saw the gears turning in everyone’s heads as realization took hold. Bronze reached into his back pocket and held out a picture of his wife and child, showing it to the crowd amassed there. “I have a wife and child waiting for me at home, I have someone I’m working for so they can have a better life than I could have otherwise given them, but the way Bai Se sees it, that’s not a right we deserve. He’d rather see us work ourselves to death and profit on our work by whatever means he can. He charges us for the tools we use, for the rooms we stay in, for the shit that this place has audacity to claim is food. How is that fair, how is that right, how are we supposed to allow for a better life when we can’t even afford the work for one?

            “Enough is enough, I’m not going to die here so that some rich asshole can keep his corporate machine greased with my blood, I’m going up there and I’m taking this camp for myself, you want a piece of it, then come and take it with me!” Bronze shouted and held up his fist in the air and heard the shouts of dozens of workers ready to rally behind him. The fury, the rage, the pride permeated the roar.

            Bronze snatched up the weapon carried by the security guards that came to intervene in prior fight and tossed it to one of the workers while Phestus did the same. They dispensed what weapons they had and what they found. Some armed with guns, others with pickaxes and shovels. With the security guards on site outnumbered two to one Bronze knew they’d take this camp by the end of the day.

            As the workers turned revolutionaries piled into the freight elevator and rose from the darkness of the mines, they set themselves upon the camp in droves. While the guards were expecting the oncoming assault, they had no way to prepare, no way to stop them. It wasn’t long till the racket caught the attention of the night shift workers and they joined the fray, supplementing the army with more soldiers to enter the fight.

            By sunrise, they’d taken the camp and hoisted a rebel’s flag high on the central tower of the mining camp. The symbol of a black hand with a white wolfs paw in the palm, a symbol that everyone in the camp decided would represent their leader Bronze to honor him. The casualties on either side were minuscule to the point of non-existence. Bronze giving everyone direct orders to take the guards alive if possible. When questioned by this he told the workers that they were just people trying to make an honest living just like them and that their qualm was with Bai Se not more of his workers. If nothing else, keeping them alive would prevent an Atlas strike team from coming in and wiping them all out in an instant. Some workers agreed to this while others begrudgingly accepted to the prior point made.

            When the sun hung over the middle of the sky in midday, the battle long since won, the workers ate and drank their fill as they burned great bonfires and sang songs of their revelry as they day went by. Bronze, the proud orchestrater of this impromptu revolution, walked among the crowds with praise sang in his name, with people toasting their drinks to him and with voices full of light and life at a renewed purpose.

            This, however, only lasted till night fall. Just as the workers tired themselves out with singing and celebration with bellies full of beer and meat and even the real food they’d stolen from the guard’s quarters, many were no able to hold out for much longer. Exhausted from a day of triumph, some workers collapsed where they sat and fell asleep right there.

            Bronze sat by the bonfire with his elbows resting on his knees and a half empty beer hanging from his hand as he felt like he wasn’t long for the waking world either till a bolt of adrenaline struck through him. His pointed ears turned behind him and heard off in the distance the sound of buffeting air and the whooshing noise engines. Before he’d even managed to get to his feet or call out to warn anyone, an Atlas strike team was upon them.

            Soldiers, real soldiers at that, armed with state-of-the-art rifles and stark white armor bearing the symbol of a spear striking through a clockwork gear came in without warning and struck down the camp. One by one the workers fell, some shot dead in their tracks after trying to retaliate while others were taken into custody as prisoners. Bronze was the later of those two, never having a chance to get to his feet before a rifle butt smacked him across the chin and a soldier laying him out on the floor with cuffs latching behind his back.

            When the disorder finally subsided back into order, the Atlas military hauled the survivors off into Atlas ships while the soldiers read each of them their rights. Bronze walked off with one soldier and caught the attention of Phestus. The bull Faunus regarded him with a solemn nod as four Atlas soldiers took this one man off to a different transport. He wanted to smile, sigh out in relief that the friend he’d made here was still alive, but the crushing realization of just whether it was worth it blocked out these feelings.

            Another few hours spent in the silence of the transport left Bronze alone with his thoughts, making him wonder if he would ever see his wife and child again. He scolded and cursed himself for being stupid enough not to think he’d catch the attention of the country of Atlas. Bronze shook his head, knowing it wouldn’t do him any good to dwell on these thoughts. What Phestus said the very same day rang in his mind and gave him the faintest hope.

            “I don’t back out, and I don’t back down…” Bronze mused to himself.

            “Is that the mantra you and your friends used?” A deep booming voice called out and caught Bronze’s attention.

            Bronze took in his surroundings, surprised to see that his thoughts caught him so deeply that he’d not even noticed that he was now sitting in an interrogation room. The man before him, the one who’d just spoke was part of the Atlas military by the uniform he wore. With the stars on his shoulders, he was a Brigadier General. This realization made Bronze’s heart drop and his stomach tie itself in knots. Why of all people was a General here to question him?

            “No sir, it was something my friend told me once…” Bronze said and looked down to the table and saw the cuffs still binding his wrists.

            “You can cut the sir thing son, you don’t work for me… least not yet anyway.” The General said and sat down across from Bronze. At this angle Bronze could see the name tag across his uniform with several ribbons and badges laying at the opposite side. The name tag read ‘Hades.’

            “Excuse me?” Bronze asked, wondering what Hades’ prior remark was about.

            “You’re going to be tried for conspiracy to commit treason and even if you manage to avoid those charges there is still arson, assault and attempted theft that you also have to contend with.” Hades said and scrolled through the files on Bronze with a scroll he produced from his pocket. “The workers, those men you rallied with you, they all took the same plea bargain… well most of them anyway. One Phestus Forge said he was just as responsible for it as you were, pretty good friend you got son.”

            Bronze nodded his head with an honest smile.

            “Yeah, I guess he is…” Bronze said with a scoff. “All of those people though, they deserve to walk free because this was my idea, I’m the one who planned this but-”

            “But nothing, the jury doesn’t care why you did it and considering you just confessed to these charges there is enough to put you to the firing squad.” Hades said and paused for a moment to let that sink in. “Lucky for you we already know the reason why you did it and it’s a perfect reason to mount a counter lawsuit against Bai Se and his industry partners.” Hades said and chuckled at the way Bronze’s shoulders suddenly dropped with a sigh. “That man has been abusing the system for years and violating workers’ rights for just as long. We needed some way to shut this down but never had any hard evidence, till now that is. He got away with it by staying in Mistral and doing all of work there, paying off officials to keep the investigation out of Mistral but with this riot, excuse me, this revolution of yours, we have enough to put a coffin nail in Bai Se’s industry for good. Atlas doesn’t much like it when their palms aren’t the ones being greased.”

            “So what you want me to testify against him or something?” Bronze asked.

            “Don’t need you to, the only thing we need is the total of thirty testimonies we’ve gotten from his workers and his partners to sue his ass into bankruptcy. We already have a buyer for the mine too, some young upstart,” Hades said and tapped his chin in consideration. “What was his name again? Something Schnee?” Hades said.

            “Where do I come into this?” Bronze demanded.

            “Well there isn’t a point to trying you for these crimes because this legal battle with Bai is going to be going on for some time. Something tells me they’d just lock you in a cell and forget to even hold the trial. Either that or you walk out of here a free man because, for the same reason, no one is going to notice you’re gone. But you were there for a reason Mr. Vulfke, I know about your wife and your son at home and I know that you have a family to provide for, so it seems to me like you need a job.” Hades said.

            In response to this, Bronze leaned back in his chair and blew a stream of air between his lips as he looked to the wall in consideration. He saw a window there with his reflection staring back at him. Deep bags hung under his eyes, his muscular form covered in sores from lack of proper nutrition. His hair matted and tangled. Where would he go, what would he do?

            “What am I doing exactly?” Bronze asked his reflection more so than Hades.

            “I plan to put together an army of Hunters and Huntresses in a multi kingdom coalition. We already have Hunter academies across the world teaching children to fight the creatures of Grimm, but what if there isn’t enough of those Hunters to get to every problem? What happens when a whole city is besieged by Grimm and they can’t summon enough of a force to take the city back? Do we just let it fall like every other city before, or do we take it back with a force all our own? I want you to join what I’m coming to call The First Hunter’s Legion so we can have the ability to take back the cities taken by the Grimm and help the people that Hunters and Huntresses couldn’t get to.” Hades said.

            “I’m not a Hunter though…” Bronze said.

            “You can be after you take your registration exam.” Hades said and crossed his arms over his chest. “But I don’t need hunters, I already have people beating down the door to join, what I need is a leader, and with the way you rallied those workers, I think you’d fit right in.”

            “You honestly think a kid with a criminal record can lead an army of soldiers?” Bronze said with a mocking scoff.

            “I know that a man of your skill can lead a team of Hunters, you’ll start out as a Private, the lowest rank there is and you’ll work your way up from there. You’ll get a decent wage and you’ll only need to stay for one year. That’s all I’ll ask of you, after that year if you want to flip me the bird and go on your way, then I won’t stop you.” Hades said and set his Scroll onto the table and slid it across to Bronze. The screen reading a contract for his service in what would be The First Hunters Legion.

            Bronze looked up at Hades and then down to the Scroll asking for his finger print as a means of signature. He shrugged his shoulders and placed his thumb on the screen before sliding the Scroll back to Hades.

            “I say you got yourself a deal, sir.” Bronze said and saluted to the best of his ability with his hands still cuffed.

            “Welcome to The First Hunter’s Legion, Private Vulfke.” Hades said and returned the salute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5,000 odd words away from 40,000 which means i'm 5,000 words away from Operation Tartarus becoming a fully fledged novel! Anyway, I had an idea to make an ask blog on Tumblr where people could ask the characters of this fic questions to get to know them a little better. Would that be something everyone would be interested in?

**Author's Note:**

> I always wanted extended cannon fanfiction like how Star Wars has all these novels for their universe so that's where this idea is coming from. Other than that, questions comments concerns and critiques are always appreciated. Thanks for reading!


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